Thread by @mkaiasand

We’ve been building toward this for months. Now we’re ready. In the new @StreetRoots, we unveil our plan for non-law enforcement street first responders. We’ve laid it all out as #PortlandStreetResponse. Please find your vendor tomorrow so you have the plan in hand.

Momentum began last summer for the need for non-law enforcement street first responders when @rwoolington and @iff_orMelissa reported in @Oregonian that 52% of 2017 arrests targeted unhoused people. @StreetRoots #PortlandStreetResponse oregonlive.com/portland/2018/…

We’ve run a series on how fines and fees further drive people into poverty by @GreenWrites in @StreetRoots. Again, we need to shift more of our emphasis from enforcement to one of humane response. #PortlandStreetResponse news.streetroots.org/archive?f%5B0%…

Last month, @katemshepherd reported in @wweek that 911 calls are overwhelmed with "unwanted person" calls. wweek.com/news/2019/02/0…

I write in my column for tomorrow's @StreetRoots that Eugene’s CAHOOTS @WhiteBirdClinic takes many of those "unwanted person" calls. So can #PortlandStreetResponse. People need help, not criminal enforcement.

I want to take a moment to celebrate the work that our #PDX community newspapers are doing reporting the issue of over-policing the poor. This is about an informed democracy through an enlivened media. #PortlandStreetResponse.

"If the only tool you have is calling the police, then everything is going to look like a police call," said @multco spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti in @katemshepherd's @wweek coverage. We agree. That’s why we’ve put this plan together. #PortlandStreetResponse

After we ran an @StreetRoots editorial stating “Not every call has a criminal nexus, and in fact, many require a skillset and a presence that specifically does not involve a badge and a gun” we got to work creating an alternative. #PortlandStreetResponse
news.streetroots.org/2018/12/07/sr-…

In an interview with @StreetRoots, @ChiefDOutlaw said that it would be helpful to have a place to divert "calls without a criminal nexus." #PortlandStreetResponsehttps://news.streetroots.org/2018/12/07/portland-police-chief-responds-concerns-homeless-community

The CHAT program of @PDXFire has been doing important work with unhoused people in crisis. With funding and training, @PDXFire under @JoAnnPDX is well-set-up to run #PortlandStreetRespond. This could be working with @portlandstmedIt and health professionals who volunteer.

Now is the perfect time to start. Here’s why: many leaders are looking at @WhiteBirdClinic's CAHOOTS as a good model – from @tedwheeler
@ChiefDOutlaw to @JoAnnPDX's staff. We’re all getting educated. portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/…
@alex_zee
@portlandmercury

Commissioner @JoAnnPDX office is in charge of the Bureau of Emergency Communication, which oversees 911 dispatch, and Portland Fire and Rescue.
She is proposing a pilot program to revamp 911 dispatch. We argue this could become #PortlandStreetResponse.

The pilot program proposed by @joann4portland is a necessary first step. Funding to begin designing this must be approved in the city budget. Please let the Commissioners and the Mayor know how important this is. @ChloeEudalyPDX @CommishFish @tedwheeler Commissioner Amanda Fritz

As CAHOOTS shows us, many street crises can be alleviated by de-escalation and by really good listening to find out the sources of distress. #PortlandStreetResponse would be designed to do this.

Let’s demand that we have a more humane, less punitive city. People are really suffering living on the streets. The least we could do is think boldly enough that we don’t make life harder.

I want to celebrate the extensive reporting that @GreenWrites has done that underpins this report. Please find a @StreetRoots vendor tomorrow to have your own copy of the #PortlandStreetResponse plan. And let’s get work.