Spotlight
Cities across the country are adopting civilian-led response models to crisis intervention, particularly for individuals experiencing behavioral health and mental health challenges or crises. The city of Albuquerque’s new public safety department, Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS), is a leader in this space as a cabinet-level department that collaborates with both the fire and police departments but is ultimately independent and civilian-led. The department, which launched in fall of 2021, de-escalates moments of crisis, responding to mental health and substance use crises, homelessness and community disputes not involving a police response. Trained professionals with the appropriate backgrounds for this work respond to non-violent and non-emergency calls; responders use a variety of established strategies such as motivational interviewing, crisis intervention, de-escalation and cultural healing.
To use the civilian response service, individuals call 911 for emergencies and 311 for non-emergency situations and/or next day follow up. With more than 60 responders on staff, the department has responded to 56,000 calls and diverted 35,000 since September of 2021. Committed to data and program transparency, ACS posts monthly progress reports. Since August of 2023, ACS operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The department is also home to the city’s Violence Intervention Program (VIP), a community violence intervention (CVI) program that dispatches peer support workers to engage with individuals most likely to be involved in gun violence. Peer workers also help community members with domestic violence and auto theft cases. The department is piloting multiple projects simultaneously, including launching a VIP in city-based high schools. Data from the VIP illustrates 91 percent of participants have not re-engaged in violent crime since the program’s inception two years ago. ACS plans to eventually undertake an evaluation, specifically for the VIP program; however, measuring the impact of interventions reducing immediate violence require at least one to three years to complete, while measuring prevention programs can take even longer, around five to 10 years.
The department also participates in street outreach for people in homeless encampments, along with other community-based organizations and departments. ACS does not play any part in code enforcement—they conduct in person assessments in encampments, with the goal of connecting individuals with any needed resources, services or support. Other important programs operate under the umbrella of ACS, such as a trauma recovery center, and an under-construction project called the Gateway Center at Gibson Health Club, which will include the following, to be finished in Winter 2024: housing navigation, a medical respite center, and quick access to services and medical sobering spaces. Albuquerque’s ACS department provides a wide swath of services and programs, providing comprehensive care from a community-based civilian-only perspective.
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