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COLUMBUS – Columbus city officials say a six-week pilot program aimed at reimagining police response to 911 callers suffering from mental health and addiction issues yielded promising results.
Data collected over a span of 72 operation hours in June and July showed more than 60% of the calls received didn’t require immediate police or fire dispatch.
Nearly half of those calls were either fully resolved by the group of mental health professionals and dispatchers or were redirected to local community services…