City of Portland expands unarmed emergency response program for mental health crises
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — People across Portland looking to help someone experiencing a mental health crisis have a new option: They can call 911 and ask for the Portland Street Response.
The unarmed emergency response program began serving people citywide on Monday, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
“The expansion is an integral part of modernizing our public safety system into a community safety system that works for all,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said on Twitter Monday.
The program, housed within the city’s fire bureau, dispatches a firefighter paramedic, a mental health crisis therapist and two community health workers to calls in which a person is potentially experiencing a mental health crisis or is intoxicated and doesn’t have a visible weapon.
It was designed to provide better outcomes for people and reduce the call load for the city’s public safety bureaus. The program started a Southeast Portland neighborhood a year ago and has been expanding since. Portland Street Response took over 1,000 calls in its first year.
After a six-month evaluation, a team of researchers at Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative recommended in October the program go citywide.
The fire bureau has requested an additional $3.7 million as part of the upcoming city budget process to make the program available around the clock by October.
