Transforming public safety means sharing a vision for what real safety looks like. Across the country, localities have been doing exactly that through community-led safety solutions – like community responder programs – because real safety comes from people having everything they need to thrive. And that includes knowing that when they call 911, they’ll be met with an empathetic emergency responder who can address their concerns.
Today, Local Progress and Local Progress Impact Lab continued its ongoing work around community-led emergency responder programs by releasing a popular education video about them: what they are, how they work, and why hundreds of localities are adopting them.
Across the country, hundreds of localities have recognized the need for community-led response programs that can address mental health crises, wellness checks, and other situations that don’t require a police response. Community responders meet people with empathy, deescalate situations, and can connect people to additional resources.
These programs:
- Provide a better, more effective response to emergency calls where a social service response would be more appropriate than armed law enforcement
- Reduce exposure to armed police, potential use of force, and entanglement with the criminal legal system
- Reduce reported crime in the categories of calls that they respond to.
- Divert calls from Fire, EMS, and/or emergency rooms
We’re already seeing successful results in cities like Albuquerque, where responders are projected to take 37,000 calls in 2024, and in Oakland, where less than 1% of MACRO calls have required police backup.. We can reimagine what public safety looks like and create a world that’s rooted in community-led solutions.
