Read Full Article | View Source
AMID THE NATIONAL reckoning over systemic racism and policing inspired by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, advocates are calling for a reimagining of American public safety through reforms such as reduced department funding and alternative policing models.
In Eugene, Oregon, a college town of some 170,000 residents, and neighboring Springfield, with some 63,000 residents, one such model has been in place for more than 30 years: A nonprofit mobile crisis intervention program, called CAHOOTS, operates in collaboration with the police department, dispatching social workers instead of officers.
