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

Tess Riski

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

Chelsea Sheasley

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

Rosana Hughes

April 19, 2021 |

Chattanooga Times Free Press |

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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

Herb Boyd Damaso Reyes

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

Tess Riski

April 14, 2021 |

Willamette Week |

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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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No badges. No guns. Can violence interrupters help Minneapolis?

Martin Kuz

April 13, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

MinneapolUS puts unarmed community members on Minneapolis streets to prevent street violence, part of the city's effort to redirect resources from the police to other crime-prevention efforts. Four teams of 20 to 30 members, many of them former gang members and formerly incarcerated, have intervened in beatings and potential shootings. They use a public-health approach pioneered by the organization Cure Violence, which has proven effective in other cities.

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What do communities do when the police retreat?

Robert Klemko

April 12, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Little Earth Protectors is one of several community patrol groups that emerged in Minneapolis' unrest after George Floyd's death in police custody. Named for a mostly Native American neighborhood with high rates of violence, the Protectors filled a vacuum left by short-staffed police who had lost support in the community. Patrolling the streets, usually unarmed, the Protectors mediate disputes, discourage drug and prostitution activity, and guard against property destruction. Seven larger groups doing this work have been given city contracts to provide their services if civil unrest breaks out again.

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Deaths of Despair: The crushing toll of a pandemic in Maine's ‘forgotten county'

Barbara A. Walsh

April 11, 2021 |

The Maine Monitor |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baileyville, Maine

Police Chief Bob Fitzsimmons personally connects with residents to combat increasing suicide rates, particularly among teens. Teachers reach out to the chief if one of the town’s 330 schoolchildren misses school, and he personally visits their home. His department funded popcorn and ice-cream sundae parties, as well as a New Year’s Day gathering, to ease the difficulty of isolation during COVID-19. He ensures residents’ achievements are publicly celebrated and grieves with families during tragedies, ensuring everyone has support in the rural area where medical and mental health services are scarcer.

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There's a new approach to police response to mental health emergencies. Taking the police out of it

Chris James

April 02, 2021 |

CNN |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

San Francisco's Street Crisis Response Team replaces or aids police officers in responding to calls about people in nonviolent behavioral health crises. A collaboration of the city's fire and health departments, the program puts three-person teams – social workers, paramedics, and peer counselors – on patrol to respond to calls or to look for people in crisis. The $4 million pilot project has taken 800 calls in its first four months, connecting people to the care they need without the violence that can occur when police are first responders. The city hopes to expand its hours to 24/7 soon.

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The invisible shield: how qualified immunity was created and nearly destroyed the ability to sue police officers in America Pt. I

Herb Boyd Damaso Reyes

April 01, 2021 |

New York Amsterdam News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The Civil Rights Act of 1871, as a direct response to white resistance to Reconstruction-era reforms in the former Confederacy, gave people the right to sue government officials for depriving them of their civil rights. But a series of court decisions from the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s through the 1980s undercut the law's intent, so much so that police officers ended up with "qualified immunity" from liability for rights violations – effectively avoiding accountability, even when they act in bad faith.

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