<aside> 🚓 The 911 Problem
Most calls are not related to a crime in progress, yet today’s 911 police-first model often sends law enforcement officers to handle complex problems beyond their training, such as mental health crises and homelessness.
Our 911 system deploys police for many societal ills, including family and behavioral health crises, conflicts in schools, and “quality-of-life” offenses such as public intoxication and panhandling. As a result, police spend much of their time responding to low-level or non-criminal incidents not considered public safety or health emergencies.
This “police-first” emergency response model exacerbates harm, perpetuates distrust in our justice system, and sometimes even results in lives lost—especially in communities of color.
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<aside> 🚐 The Reimagine 911 Solution
If a 911 caller does not need a police response, then 911 should be able to connect them with more appropriate services.
Our 911 call centers should have the flexibility to send the right response to every call. Police should be dispatched to public safety emergencies, but 911 should also leverage non-law enforcement resources such as social referral programs, non-emergency municipal services, or mental and behavioral health hotlines.
Reimagine 911 can help communities identify incoming calls that deserve a different response. By creating a multi-jurisdictional database of standardized 911 calls, we can make diversion opportunities more visible and connect cities that the data shows have similarities across a variety of dimensions.
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This project began as an exploration of the possibility of using open 911 data to make a more human-centered system. But our work wasn’t accomplished in a single day.
Meet the skilled people dedicated to the Reimagine 911 project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BWUG0J392c&ab_channel=CodeforAmerica
💙 Giving Technical Systems a Heart
Past volunteer and Coro Fellow Maya Love sharing her perspective on why the work we do - and the approach we take - is so important.