Columbus is trying out an alternative response program to steer some 911 calls away from the police.
City leaders have spent months trying to figure out how to tailor response so the right service providers show up after someone calls 911. Over the next six weeks, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther explains, they鈥檒l be piloting a program to do just that.
鈥淭o make this happen, we will have a social worker or mental health nurse embedded in our 911 dispatch center to help triage and redirect calls,鈥� Ginther said.
Erika Clark Jones, who heads up the county鈥檚 drug and mental health agency, ADAMH, said many of the calls that come in don鈥檛 require police response.
鈥淲e estimate that half of the calls that come in require police or EMS involvement,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淎nd the remainder are most appropriately managed by community responders, including clinicians, peers, individuals with lived experiences.鈥�
Columbus Police Commander Dennis Jeffrey insists officers usually respond well on service calls with people in crisis or suffering from addiction. Still he said the police shouldn鈥檛 always be the primary responders.
鈥淪ometime the best response might not be two police officers, it might not be a medic, it might be secondary responder, and that really begins in the radio room, that鈥檚 really critical and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e starting off with this triage pod to try to get it right." Jeffery said.
Columbus Fire Captain Matt Parrish said the effort will emphasize existing alternative response teams, like RREACT or the police鈥檚 mobile crisis response units that pair clinicians with officers.
鈥淭here will still be times that the right response may fall back upon our ultimate safety net and the traditional 911 responders such as CPD patrol, and CFD鈥檚 EMS crews,鈥� Parrish said. 鈥淲e will continue to train and improve their understanding knowledge and response capabilities to calls involving mental health and addiction crisis.鈥�
The pilot program is set to launch Monday and officials with Columbus Police, Fire and public health will be keeping tabs on the program to see how it goes. The city plans to use the pilot to gather data for future staffing and alternative response team plans.
