Legislation introduced by Senator Paul Mark & State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa
Ask your State Representatives and State Legislators to co-sponsor legislation to fund alternatives to our current emergency response system, H.2264 and S.1407, increasing the availability of non-law enforcement, unarmed, community based response options for calls to 911.
We know that well over 90% of 911 calls are for nonviolent emergencies, that is, for wellness checks, reported vagrancy, and personal crises. When 911 responders are armed police, violence frequently results, and the needs of the person who is the focus of the call too often are ignored. Tell your legislators that the best way to address emergency mental health, homelessness, and substance misuse in our communities is through an unarmed response involving trained crisis managers, who may be peer responders, or other behavioral health specialists.
Ask your Representative to co-sponsor H.2264 HERE and your Senator to co-sponsor S.1407 HERE.
Click HERE to read the Bill and a fact sheet
There are already several alternative 911 response programs in Massachusetts. Amherst launched CRESS (Community Responders for Equity, Safety & Service) in August of 2022,
Northampton will inaugurate a similar service in 2023, and the Cambridge City Council just voted to launch HEART (Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team).