![]() Authorities here hope it will defuse the kinds of tensions between police and residents that have surfaced in cities across the country and help reinvent 911 emergency response systems, which many believe have become antiquated. Still, ACS is among the first stand-alone departments of its kind in the country. The change fulfills a key demand among many activists, who since George Floyd's murder have taken aim at the city's reliance on police for emergencies that don't necessarily require an armed response. The pilot program, operated by Richfield-based Canopy Mental Health & Consulting, features mental health professionals in two-person teams who will always be on call. Last July, Minneapolis also launched a civilian crisis response corps to handle certain mental health emergencies without police. Launched in August, the agency is intended to complement the city's police and fire departments by having teams of behavioral health specialists patrol and respond to low-level, nonviolent 911 calls. They are members of the Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) department. It's something of a hybrid - part of an experiment that Albuquerque is hoping will change public safety in America. What they do is not normal emergency response work nor normal police work. "What happens is police get a call, and they send us." "That's what people do, call the cops," he adds. He's been homeless for seven years, he tells them. A man inside the tent curses back at her. "Someone called 911 and said there was a fire," says White. People walking or jogging along a nearby trail glance over. They have to head west.Ī few minutes later, they're standing outside two tents pitched in the trees near a church. Before long, the first dispatch flashes over the computer screen. While Adams drives, White eats breakfast snacks and works on a black Dell laptop. Skee-Lo's 1990s hit "I Wish" is blasting from the radio. Both are wearing jeans and matching black T-shirts. Instead, they are armed with a trunk full of water bottles, Cheez-Its, and Chewy bars. Their white car, stamped with "Community Safety" decals, is headed for a neighborhood once known as the "war zone."Īdams and White aren't carrying guns, though. Walter Adams and Leigh White are on patrol. Hundreds of hot air balloons dot the cloudless blue sky - part of the annual balloon festival that Albuquerque hosts. ![]() It's early October, and perhaps the busiest week of the year in New Mexico's largest city. ![]()
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