Seattle City Council member seeks to create first-responder alternative to police – By Scott Greenstone (Seattle Times) / July 6 2020
Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis is introducing legislation to divert police funding into creating a new mental health and substance addiction first-responder program, where unarmed medics and crisis workers would respond to reports of people in mental health crisis.
In the middle of continuing protests in Seattle and around the country where protesters have called for defunding police, Lewis sees this new response replacing police in these situations and lowering police caseloads.
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“We need a new leg of the stool,” Lewis said. “When there’s a building on fire, we don’t send the police, we send the fire department… when someone has a stroke, we send an ambulance.”
Lewis wants the council to consider cutting SPD’s funding to pay for such a program this summer.
Continue to article: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-city-council-member-seeks-to-create-first-responder-alternative-to-police/
