Albuquerque, New Mexico has unveiled plans to use social workers to respond to certain 911 calls rather than police, as calls to reform law enforcement…
Albuquerque, New Mexico has unveiled plans to use social workers to respond to certain 911 calls rather than police, as calls to reform law enforcement and end police brutality draw national attention in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Democratic Mayor Tim Keller announced on Monday that the city was creating a «first-of-its-kind» civilian public safety department that would use unarmed social workers, housing and homelessness specialists, and violence prevention coordinators to respond to certain 911 calls over police.
«We’ve placed more and more issues on the plates of officers who are not trained – despite their best efforts and despite some training – they’re not totally trained to be a social worker, or to be an addiction counselor, or to deal with things around child abuse when they’re just answering a call,» Keller said in his announcement.
