Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • They answer the call when people are in crisis

    April 29, 2021 |

    City Newspaper (Rochester) |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

    Following the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester police custody, the city consulted with the operators of Eugene's CAHOOTS program to craft its own version of a team of unarmed responders to help resolve mental health or substance abuse crises without the use of violence. Rochester's Person In Crisis (PIC) team has averaged about 21 calls per day since January. All calls are made with the police in tandem, unlike CAHOOTS' model. Some violent incidents in Rochester have raised questions about PIC's ability to defuse conflict. But the operators say they have begun to make a positive difference.

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  • Officers try to break stigma, offer help to drug users

    April 29, 2021 |

    Arizona Daily Star |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

    Tucson Police Department's Substance Use Resource Team reaches out on the streets to people with substance-use disorder, offering them treatment instead of arrest and jail. The team is an extension of the department's mental health support team and was started in response to the opioid epidemic. Officers talk to people they find on the streets, or follow up on 911 calls for overdoses. Not everyone accepts the offered help, and some end up arrested on warrants. But, at a time of rising overdose deaths, the officers and the peer support specialists who accompany them often can get people into treatment.

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  • When communities try to hold police accountable, law enforcement fights back

    April 27, 2021 |

    The Washington Post |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

    A favorite remedy for systemic police misconduct is a civilian oversight agency. More than 160 cities and counties have such agencies, some at the insistence of the U.S. Justice Department. But, as Albuquerque and multiple other cities have shown, a common set of factors often undermine the effectiveness of such agencies. These factors start with structural defects, limiting the agencies' independent investigatory and disciplinary powers, and extend to strenuous opposition from police unions and their political allies.

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  • CSI Houston: How a Texas lab has remade the science of forensics

    April 23, 2021 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

    One of the first crime-lab scandals gave birth to a better way of ensuring the integrity and accuracy of forensic evidence. The Houston Forensic Science Center operates independently of law enforcement agencies, with a large staff of scientists and a healthy budget to correct some of the resource-related flaws of its police-run predecessor. Perhaps its greatest innovation is a system of regularly running blind tests as a quality check, to make sure the staff stays vigilant. The goal is to avoid the kinds of bad science that often contribute to wrongful convictions and other injustices.

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  • Denver police are solving more nonfatal shootings with a new unit

    April 21, 2021 |

    KUSA-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    Under 3 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Denver police solve far more nonfatal shootings than in the past because they created a special detectives unit to centralize and prioritize such investigations. In its first year, the Firearm Assault Shoot Team (FAST) solved two-thirds of the 165 cases it investigated, up from about 25% in the past, when investigations were a lower priority and handled at the police district level. Police in Texas and Connecticut have expressed interest in modeling programs on FAST. Denver police hope more arrests mean fewer shootings, and fewer reasons people feel a need to carry guns in the first place.

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  • A Fatal Police Shooting in Lents Was the Nightmare Portland Officials Tried to Prevent

    April 21, 2021 |

    Willamette Week |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    After the U.S. Justice Department found that Portland police used excessive force too often when dealing with people in mental health crises, the city formed an unarmed mobile crisis team and a team of police officers with extra training in such cases. Neither team was used when a man with a history of mental illness, armed with what turned out to be a toy gun, was shot to death by a police officer. The Portland Street Response team was not called because the incident occurred outside its limited working hours during the team's pilot phase.

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  • In a roiled Minneapolis, schools are testing new model for safety

    April 20, 2021 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Washburn High School in Minneapolis is taking a different approach for in-school safety, one that doesn't rely on a police presence. The school district ended its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department and replaces School Resource Officers with civilian safety specialists, who are not uniformed, armed, and have no power of arrest. Instead, the specialists provide more community-centered services to visiting students who were disconnected, aiding with food distribution, and evaluate school safety plans.

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  • Berke attributes Chattanooga's drop in gang violence to Violence Reduction Initiative

    April 19, 2021 |

    Chattanooga Times Free Press |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Chattanooga, Tennessee

    Seven years after the creation of Chattanooga's Violence Reduction Initiative, gang violence in the city is down by two-thirds even while other types of gun violence have increased. The program uses an approach called focused deterrence to target people suspected of being at highest risk of committing violence, offering them social services if they stop the violence. It got off to a slow start and has encountered numerous obstacles. But, while no formal evaluation proves that the initiative caused gang violence to decline, city officials believe that the correlation is no coincidence.

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  • The invisible shield: how activists and lawmakers are breaking down qualified immunity, Part 3

    April 15, 2021 |

    New York Amsterdam News |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Colorado

    The protests against police abuses in 2020 prodded numerous legislatures to challenge the legal doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects police officers from being sued for violating people's civil rights. Colorado's law, the first to pass, was a direct response to the protests, as was New York City's law. While one Colorado lawsuit has already been filed, the full effects of these laws and others in the pipeline won't be known for some time. Proponents say these changes won't transform police culture, but they are necessary precursors to making deeper changes.

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  • A Portland Program Intended to Reduce Police Interactions With People in Crisis Is Off to a Slow Start

    April 14, 2021 |

    Willamette Week |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    The Portland Street Response program sends a paramedic and social worker on non-emergency calls, often involving mental health crises, instead of sending police. The pilot project, operating during weekday hours in one neighborhood, was assigned 60 calls in its first 40 business days. That tiny percentage of 911 calls falls short of expectations, possibly because dispatchers' screening of calls is defined too narrowly, or because dispatchers are being protective of the police. Supporters say the program always was meant to start small and deliberately, but its call volume is averaging much less than planned.

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