Mental health professionals in the new unit will be dispatched instead of police officers for certain behavioral issues.
By Law Officer
SEATTLE – Emergency 911 calls related to mental health issues in Seattle will soon be handled by unarmed “crisis responders” instead of police officers as a result of a new “alternate response team” being spearheaded by Democrat Councilwoman Lisa Hebold.
Last Friday, Hebold announced the city is beginning to hire six positions for the new pilot program in order to provide unarmed “crisis responders” to handle certain emergency calls related to mental health, Fox News Digital reported.
“Well, you know, usually I'm complaining about how delayed we are and how frustrated I am that we're not meeting our benchmarks for developing this program. But today I'm really, really happy to report that the city is hiring for the six positions for its first pilot alternate response team. It's going to be a way for 911 operators to dispatch calls to somebody other than police, somebody other than fire, a crisis responder who is unarmed,” Herbold noted.
Continuing, she said, “The police department will be aware of the dispatch. They may attend, they may stage nearby, or they just may have situational awareness. Each call is going to be different, but it's really exciting that we're finally up and running with hiring the folks who will be doing this really important work that we have been working on since, I think, August of 2020.”
The 911 Dual Dispatch/Alternate Crisis Response program is funded in the amount of $1.6 million following a midyear supplement to the city budget.
“The new dual dispatch program will send mental health professionals as the first responders to 911 calls involving people in behavioral health crises. Those mental health professionals will have police backup available to them, but SPD officers would only approach if needed,” according to Herbold.
The councilwoman's website said, “With this action, we can finally take the next step toward our community's calls for policing alternatives. We know we cannot continue to ask police to do it all. This program will help focus our approach to public safety and free up officers to more quickly respond to the types of emergencies that only they can.”
In August 2020, Herbold was one of the first politicians behind the vote that chipped away and demoralized members of the Seattle Police Department. The plan cut 100 officers from the department's table of organization, which called for 1,400 sworn personnel, and $3 million from the agency's $400 million budget.
About the same time, Herbold also supported legislation that would drop misdemeanor charges for defendants who suffer from substance abuse, have a mental disorder or live in poverty.
A frequent trend with liberal politicians is they want to be an exception to their own rules. In Dec. 2020, Herbold called police to her home to report a crime she was effectively trying to decriminalize after someone threw a rock through her living room window.
After being criticized for reporting an offense she was trying to decriminalize, Herbold said she would like a jury to hear a defendant's reason for committing the crime.
“It's giving people an opportunity to tell their stories and giving judges and juries the opportunity to hear those stories and make a decision based on the values of our city,” Herbold said at the time.
Find the original article in its entirety on Law Officer.
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if I am a cop on a beat in Seattle, they are ALL crazy.
A 50+ year old with a nose ring: not a good look. Let’s see how long this goes before it goes very, very far South. It’s all fun and games until a crazy pulls out a gun and starts shooting do-gooder lefties.
dred – any bets that ‘Lisa” will NOT accept any responsibility when the situation you outlined actually occurs, it is not if but when.
“…would drop misdemeanor charges for defendants who suffer from substance abuse, have a mental disorder or live in poverty.” What do you need an unarmed response team for if you have no laws in place for them to break?
That means six new idiots for the armed mentally deranged liberals to off.
And when these unarmed fools get shot or stabbed or clubbed to death what happens then? Maybe a more in depth treatment of mental health problems and keeping some people incarcerated instead of letting them go might help. But sending these fools in to the slaughter is not the answer.
If things go haywire, we will never hear about it! Media only publicizes White on Black and Straight on Gay crimes.
I think they’ll have trouble finding 6 professionals willing to hire on to do this.
It’s okay this is what the people of Oregon voted for.
No wonder we’re seeing so many Oregon transfers in AZ.
I think her nose ring has compromised her brain. Any thinking person can see what is going to happen when an unarmed person confronts someone that is mentally ill. Where is the common sense?
Any wagers on how long it will before one of them is killed in line of duty?
More dead to pick up?? Really
Another Leftist farce, sure to go sideways. Then watch the rats scramble to blame others, likely those that had nothing to do with this to begin with. It’s the Left’s way – no accountability.
Pencil it out: that’s ONE crisis responder per shift.
No way would I live in Seattle🤬
On behalf of Smith and Wesson, Colt Arms, Ruger, Glock and Beretta, I would like to thank Councilperson Hebold for boosting gun sales in Seattle.
As George Carlin used to say, you just can’t cure stupidity. If Hebold thinks this is such a good idea, why doesn’t she become one of these “unarmed alternative responders”?
Sorry but I just gotta say this —— LOVE THE NOSE RING!! NOT!
The public wearing of nose rings by public officials does not help me believe in the maturity, values, and even intelligence, of such people. Ms. Herbold strikes as being on the same level of sanity as Richard Leland Levine, transgender dysphoriac now known as Admiral Rachel Levine. Herbold even LOOKS like Levine.
Bad Choices on display!
Signs of Mental Midgetry.
Please send the case worker when SHE calls!!
Just can’t fix this special kind of stupid.
What could go wrong?
Maybe if they’re Trans or non-binary they’ll be OK.
Take ‘em a Fruit Basket!