We are calling on Downingtown Borough Council to establish a mobile unarmed crisis response team to respond to mental health and substance use disorder calls within the Borough. 

Following the deaths of Elijah McClain, Daniel Prude, Walter Wallace, Jr., Patrick Warren, Sr., and others, our nation has begun to re-evaluate the role of police in mental health crises. Coatesville, Reading, Lancaster, and Philadelphia have all been affected by police violence within the past year, showing that we are not immune to police brutality locally. 

It has become increasingly clear that police should not be tasked to handle all the various issues within the spectrum of public safety, particularly those involving mental health and substance use disorder. People with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians.1 One in five law enforcement intervention deaths were directly related to issues with the victim’s mental health, or substance-induced disruptive behaviors.2  

Unarmed crisis response teams are not only safer for those struggling with mental health and substance use disorder, they are also more cost-effective for local municipalities. A study from Psychiatric Services showed an average savings of 23% per person compared to police.3

One model for an effective mobile crisis response team is the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon, which responds to certain 911 calls related to “conflict resolution, welfare checks, substance abuse, suicide threats, and more, relying on trauma-informed de-escalation and harm reduction techniques.” 

Since its inception in 1989, CAHOOTS has been effective in connecting people in crisis to the services they need, while saving the city of Eugene millions of dollars annually, and reducing the burden on police to respond to incidents that are better tasked to mental health professionals.4

Some adjacent counties in PA have already implemented mobile crisis support programs (https://www.accessservices.org/services/mobile-crisis-support/ ). However, more funding is required to ensure these programs are adequately staffed and able to respond to mental health crises in a timely and consistent manner.

We demand Downingtown Borough Council establish a mobile unarmed crisis response team, including mental health professionals who can be dispatched separately from police, to respond to mental health and substance use disorder incidents in the Borough. 

Bibliography

1. Butler, Stuart M, and Nehath Sheriff. “Innovative Solutions to Address the Mental Health Crisis: Shifting Away from Police as First Responders.” Brookings, Brookings, 20 Nov. 2020, www.brookings.edu/research/innovative-solutions-to-address-the-mental-health-crisis-shifting-away-from-police-as-first-responders/ 
2. DeGue, Sarah, et al. “Deaths Due to Use of Lethal Force by Law Enforcement.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 51, no. 5, 2016, doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2016.08.027. 
3. Scott, Roger L. “Evaluation of a Mobile Crisis Program: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Consumer Satisfaction.” Psychiatric Services, vol. 51, no. 9, 2000, pp. 1153–1156., doi:10.1176/appi.ps.51.9.1153. 
4. “What Is CAHOOTS?” White Bird Clinic, 8 Nov. 2020, whitebirdclinic.org/what-is-cahoots/.