The Dangers of Citizen 911 Response

Embedded Clinicians, Not Unarmed Replacements for 911 Calls

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

Abstract

As mental health crises surge across the United States, reformers have proposed shifting emergency response away from law enforcement to unarmed crisis responders. A recent example is Columbus, Ohio’s proposed ballot initiative that would send unarmed civilians to handle certain 911 calls instead of police officer…