Unarmed Civilians, Not Cops, to Respond to Mental Health Crises Calls in Oakland

Copyright

2021

This article highlights how unarmed civilians and outreach workers from the Oakland Fire Department are responding to mental health crises calls in Oakland, rather than the police department. The program was created in response to police killings of Black Americans and other people of color and aims to de-escalate volatile situations through the dispatch of outreach workers, emergency medical technicians and other civilian specialists.