Courtney Milan: Thread! STAR is such an amazing program--it saves lives, helps people with their real needs, and costs so much less than the endless cycle of awful cops.

Thread! STAR is such an amazing program--it saves lives, helps people with their real needs, and costs so much less than the endless cycle of awful cops.

Here in Denver, you're now seeing STARs vans everywhere - "Support Team Assisted Response." It's a medic and a social worker, both trained in mental health and addiction support, showing up instead of police. They offer support to homeless folks, people in crisis, and folks in altered states.

It also means that you can actually think about things that serve a purpose, but should not be performed by cops, like sending a wellness check, because wellness checks are not being performed by anyone with a gun or a propensity to murder.

In the first six months of operation, low-level crime went down 34% in the places where STAR was operating, and a visit from the STAR team cost 23% of a police visit.

This sounds wonderful. Which of course means that there's a certain segment of our population who is absolutely going to hate it. Let's drown them out with praise for this kind of system.

Some similar moves in Alberta and BC www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Are STAR folks paid on par with armed response? I'm a bit afraid that the cost savings comes from underpaying folks.

I don’t know what the pay looks like, but if you look at the cost estimates, the police cost includes costs like holding someone for days and having to go through the justice system, so it’s not purely a pay differential.

That's fair! And promising. :)

Hey do you have a link to this? I've been working on similar programs up here in WA and I've been looking for data on the effectiveness of different models

I *wish* we had this in Chicago. I would be so happy to be able to have someone check on folks. Right now, I just don't call, bc I don't trust CPD response AT ALL.

I bet there are hundreds or even thousands of chicagoans who'd agree. I bet y'all could get it started with some grass roots organizing.

They actually launched a test pilot of it last year, but it's very limited hours, only in a couple of neighborhoods, and half the pilot project still sends police w/mh workers on the calls. 🙄

Might be worth kicking up dust about creating something that's more comprehensive and an alternative to cops.

They’re the exact wrong tool for the task. A cop trained to say “Put your hands up or I’ll shoot” by default, is going to get the opposite behaviour than they expect if it’s someone who WANTS to hurt themselves. It’s essentially delivering a voice-activated loaded weapon to a suicidal person.

Even if the person isn’t suicidal, someone in crisis (mental or physical) is not always going to be good at instant compliance. Just by their nature.

One of our council members in Seattle tried to push for a program like STAR and was blocked at every turn by our entrenched police union. He was voted out last election… and replaced with a former cop. It’s so disheartening.

What's the point of even having cops if they can't shoot people in altered mental states without consequences?

Of course all the responses and interventions in the world are useless if there are no resources to accept folks from responders. And take responsibility for continuing care and treatment, ensuring safety, housing and basic needs are met.

Is "useless" going to far? At least people in crisis don't get "helped" with a bullet.

Not useless, but heartbreaking for everyone - the person in crisis, their loved ones, and the responders. They are still experiencing violence and death, vastly more often at the hands of the public rather than police.

The program in Eugene, Oregon that dates back to the 1970s hippie era still works extremely well in dealing with mental health crises that are answered by police in other places. These are models proven to work over time and cost effective.

I’d been wondering how they were doing after early terrific reports— you reminded me to look it up. I expect you’ve seen this, may be responding to it? www.denver7.com/news/front-r...

Denver's STAR Advisory Committee shares concerns over new neighborhood safety officewww.denver7.com As Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration prepares for a new Office of Neighborhood Safety, Denver’s STAR Community Advisory Committee is concerned about the impact on the STAR Program.

I so wish we had a program like this in my area. I've done my best to speak up for it to my city, but no progress as of yet (at least not that I know of).

We have something similar here in PEI. They're tremendously helpful and IMHO vital in these rapidly changing times, when simply existing becomes challenging.

Can we please get this in the midwest? I know some people with severe schizophrenia that need help and I was crying on 911 one day and told them to NOT send police, those pigs are crazy. But he was brandishing a hatchet and I'm like, "Man there ain't a good solution to this..."

This is an awesome idea!

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