By Christin Evans, HANC Board

To defund the police, it is politically necessary to create an alternative when citizens call for assistance. In January, activists in conjunction with Police Commissioner John Hamasaki and Supervisor Matt Haney launched a campaign for CART SF (The Compassionate Alternative Response Team). At HANC’s February meeting, we will host a member of the campaign’s workgroup to present its plan for such an alternative.

Every year in San Francisco, the city receives over 60,000 reports involving homeless and mental crises which it directs to the police.  This despite the reality that police officers are not trained social workers, mental health experts, or care professionals, nor do they have appropriate resources to offer.  Many such calls result in police directing the individual or individuals to simply pack up and move along.

The CART SF workgroup spent months developing a detailed plan which they published to a website: https://www.cartsf.org/ . The group did extensive research including surveying homeless individuals themselves about the interactions they’ve had with police, and also studying the three decades old CAHOOTS model in Eugene, Oregon (https://www.eugene-or.gov/4508/CAHOOTS).  The alternative model is expected to save the city significant money, particularly in payroll savings, when we know a police officer’s salary can cost up to 2 to 3 times more as compared to a trained care professional.

The campaign activists also have said the following measurable outcomes of the CART Program would include:

• Reduction in the number of police dispatches to homelessness-related quality-of-life complaints
• Reduction in the number of individuals transported to the emergency department for low acuity medical-related issues that could instead be addressed in a pre-hospital care setting
• Reduction in the number of homelessness-related calls to dispatch, in areas where the CART program’s community-strengthening interventions have occurred
• Reduction in the number of behavioral health and lower acuity medical calls traditionally responded to by the Police and Fire Departments and improved outcomes for those on the streets

Ultimately, the plan is to show demonstrated improvements which lead to reductions in the police budget.  Funds can then be redirected to solutions which will support our homeless neighbors getting the real assistance and resources they need to get off the street.

Please join us for a timely conversation about the debate on how to defund the police.