New Report on Alternative First Response in San Francisco Finds Significant Progress, Includes Recommendations for Improvement
The Policing Project at New York University School of Law has published an in-depth study on community safety and non-police alternative first response in San Francisco, the third report in a series on public safety innovations across the country.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2024
Media Contact: Joshua Manson, Policing Project at NYU School of Law, joshua.manson@nyu.edu
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Policing Project at NYU School of Law today released a report on community safety and non-police emergency first response in San Francisco, finding that the City is taking meaningful steps to implement alternative response models, and that those steps are changing the landscape of public safety.
"San Francisco has made real strides in developing alternative response programs to better support community safety," said Jessica Gillooly, Senior Policing Fellow at the Policing Project and Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Suffolk University, and one of the report’s authors. “At the same time, the City faces complex social problems and these programs still have room for growth. Communities across the country seeking to implement their own alternative response programs should pay close attention to our findings from San Francisco.”
"San Francisco is committed to a comprehensive, innovative approach to improving safety and support for those struggling on our streets,” said Mayor London Breed. “By breaking down barriers to better coordinate our departments and strengthening our landmark efforts to create alternatives to policing, our workforce is charting new paths and creating better outcomes for everyone in our city. We are continuing to make improvements every single day.”
Since 2020, the City of San Francisco has created new teams of first responders to respond to people in crisis, instead of relying primarily on law enforcement: the Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT), which fields units specializing in trauma-informed responses to behavioral health crises, and the Street Overdose Response Team (SORT), which responds to residents who have experienced an overdose. The performance of both teams, the report finds, offers reason for cautious optimism.
According to data in the report, between June 2022 and August 2023, SCRT responded to 12,581 calls, or nearly 29 per day, in an average of roughly 16 minutes. In the vast majority of those encounters, the individual in crisis was either transported to a hospital or alternative destination, or else remained in the community – but in neither case was there interaction with law enforcement.
Similarly, between August 2021 and May 2023, SORT handled more than 3,000 calls, including 182 in May 2023 alone. Of the more than 3,000 calls during that period, the majority involved an overdose, 1,391 involved instances of clients accepting harm reduction supplies, and 1,364 involved instances of successful follow-up by the Post-Overdose Exposure Team.
Each of these encounters saved law enforcement resources, freeing up the police for other more pressing work.
The report also presents insights from interviews and conversations with municipal workers across City agencies concerning their perceptions, ideas, and attitudes toward the alternative first response programs. Respondents identified a range of reasons for why alternative response is necessary, including police killings of Black Americans; issues of mental illness, homelessness, and substance use, and the need to conserve police resources due to reduced staffing. Across the board, respondents were enthusiastic about the City’s efforts.
Still, there are challenges. 911 dispatchers are stretched thin and struggle with the scripted protocols they must use to assess call eligibility, in particular because those protocols may not always resolve the calls they receive. There still is some confusion among frontline workers about responsibilities of each at the scene of an incident. And many community members and some call takers are disappointed that alternative responses are not solving complex social problems.
Finally, the report includes a set of recommendations for the City to further strengthen its alternative response programs. Among those recommendations are that the City take steps to further clarify for responders and the public who does what at the scene of an incident; articulate that the goal of the programs is not to solve systemic, underlying issues, but to provide immediate crisis response; and address the issue of program fragmentation by developing a system of holistic response – a team of unarmed responders who are trained in a wider range of areas and can respond to a broader set of 911 calls.
The report, San Francisco's Public Safety System: Lessons in First Response Policy Implementation, is the third in a series of research projects undertaken by the Policing Project’s Reimagining Public Safety initiative to support strong, healthy, and safe communities by working to end overreliance on law enforcement. Its experts have been conducting research and engagement about community safety concerns and innovations in Denver, San Francisco, Tucson, and Chicago. The initiative is producing guidance for cities on alternative response and police alternatives that better address the actual reasons community members call 911, and has created a national peer-learning community of practice to support the field of alternative response.
For more information on the initiative, visit SafetyReimagined.org.
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The Policing Project at NYU School of Law promotes public safety through transparency, equity, and democratic engagement. Learn about the Policing Project atwww.policingproject.org.