LYNN — The city council approved $500,000 in the fiscal year 2022 city budget to create an unarmed crisis response team, following a year of organizing and advocating for this by the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition. Mayor Thomas McGee and the coalition have named the program the All Lynn Emergency Response Team (ALERT).
This comes almost exactly a year after the coalition staged a demonstration outside the 2021 budget hearing demanding the city address systemic racism by taking a new approach to public safety.
The unarmed crisis response team will respond to nonviolent situations that can be handled by crisis-response workers with specialized training in social work, de-escalation, and emergency medical assistance, rather than by police officers.
“People around the nation are asking ‘what’s next?’ as we look beyond the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd,” said Adriana Paz, co-chair of the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition (LRJC) and president of Prevent the Cycle. “Moving toward an unarmed crisis response team is one part of our response here in Lynn.”
The coalition said the unarmed crisis response team will reduce the use of force, prevent unnecessary entanglement with the criminal justice system, begin to address the over-policing of communities of color and even save the city money.
“When police are called into nonviolent situations, it can escalate things and create a whole new problem,” said Ella Thomas, a member of Lynn United for Change who has advocated for the ALERT program. “I remember one incident where the approach police took with a family member who has mental health struggles changed the situation from totally calm to dangerous and traumatic. Like a lot of Black parents, I worry about something even worse happening to my children and grandchildren if they interact with the police. No one should have to worry like that.”
Coalition members said that locally, overall arrests have declined over recent years but the percentage of calls that end in use of force has increased.
“We envision a program that would reduce use-of-force incidents by responding to a broad range of calls including mental health crises, wellness checks, drug overdoses and noise complaints,” said Jonathon Feinberg of the New Lynn Coalition.
Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard, co-chair of LRJC and Organizer for Essex County Community Organization, said this kind of response team has worked in other places.
“Unarmed crisis response has been proven to save lives, save money and divert calls away from police,” Hickman-Maynard said.
Eugene, Ore. has about 175,000 residents and its unarmed crisis response program, called CAHOOTS, handles 17 percent of calls that previously would have gone to police officers, saving the city about $8.5 million a year.
More than 99 percent of the calls directed to CAHOOTS are resolved without the need for police backup. Similar programs are now running or being planned in numerous other cities including Denver, Colo. and Austin, Texas.
“This is real systemic change,” said President of North Shore Juneteenth Association Nicole McClain. “The goal is to put a solution in place that will lessen the likelihood of lethal force in our city and will make a real difference in the way we keep our community safe.”
Anthony Coleman of Diverse People United said the benefits of the program will go beyond averting use of force and will also connect Lynn residents in crisis with appropriate and essential services.
A recent public letter endorsing the creation of an unarmed crisis response team separate from the police force brought endorsements from a large number of local faith leaders, elected officials, candidates for municipal office, local businesses and labor and community groups.
“This is a great first step to much needed change,” said Eugene Anderson of IUE-CWA Local 201. “Local 201’s Civil Rights Committee is proud to be a part of the continued progress in our city.”
The Lynn Racial Justice Coalition — made up of Diverse People United, Essex County Community Organization (ECCO), IUE-CWA Local 201, Lynn United For Change, New Lynn Coalition, North Shore Juneteenth Association and Prevent the Cycle — has also successfully pushed for police body cameras, reinstatement of the city’s Human Rights Commission and the creation of a municipal diversity, equity and inclusion officer position.
“People who have never had to live the experience of confronting systemic racism need to understand the enormous burden our Black and brown brothers and sisters have long had to shoulder,” said Paz. “That’s why changes like this are so urgent.”
