Amid calls to defund police, Albuquerque creates an alternative department [View all]

[riversedge]

I am glad to see cities start up these reforms.





Amid calls to defund police, Albuquerque creates an alternative department

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/15/wake-calls-defund-police-albuquerque-creates-an-alternative-department/

By Austin R. Ramsey and Meryl Kornfield
June 15, 2020 at 2:32 p.m. CDT

As calls to defund law enforcement reach a fever pitch nationwide, New Mexico’s largest city is answering concerns about its police department by forming an alternative.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (D) announced on Monday the formation of a new public safety department designed to relieve stress on the city’s police. Instead of the police or fire departments responding to 911 calls related to inebriation, homelessness, addiction and mental health, the new division will deploy unarmed personnel made up of social workers, housing and homelessness specialists, and violence prevention coordinators.

The department, called Albuquerque Community Safety, may be the first of its kind, experts say. A spokesperson for the mayor told The Washington Post the new department was partially the city’s response to the “defund the police” movement.


“There is a huge portion of our community that doesn’t necessarily want two officers showing up when they call about a situation with respect to behavioral and mental health,” the mayor said in an interview Sunday. “So this is a new path forward for us that has been illuminated because of what we’ve learned during these times. Look, there’s political will; there was not political will to make this huge of a step three weeks ago.” ........................




Protesters march on Central Avenue and Utah Street as cars parade and honk going east on May 28 in Albuquerque. (Anthony Jackson//The Albuquerque Journal/AP)