The program sending unarmed health experts in place of police is set to expand
The widespread attention was a little unexpected, but made sense in the wake of Floyd’s murder as communities demanded changes to policing, said Vinnie Cervantes, director of Denver Alliance for Street Health Response. Floyd’s murder prompted widespread conversations and critique of the nation’s criminal legal system, which police and protesters alike have said is too often used to handle non-criminal problems like mental health and addiction.
The program’s managers hope to scale the program up to six vans by April as part of the expansion allowed under the new contract. As of Thursday, three vans were providing services citywide from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Although the program was constrained to downtown Denver during its pilot, it has since expanded to cover the whole city.
Most of STAR’s calls for service come through Denver 911, where dispatchers are trained to send the STAR van for appropriate needs. But about a third of calls are from Denver police officers who responded to a call and determined it would be better handled by STAR.Although the program began under the umbrella of the Denver Department of Public Safety, in January it was moved under the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.
In the first four months, the team responded to 190 calls serving a broad variety of needs and people.
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