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Brooklyn Park police say the Alternative Response Team project — where social workers and paramedics respond to mental health calls-for-service — is yielding positive results.
“Just getting this program up and running to the point that it is right now has been a monumental task, so it would really be kind of a sting if the program was pulled back,” said Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Elliot Faust. “And the good news is that we have a lot of data coming in that’s showing that the program seems to be very impactful.”
Using this model, Hennepin County social workers and North Memorial Health paramedics can respond with, or in lieu of police officers.
Healthcare and law enforcement officials announced the partnership about a year ago.
It was originally planned to run through Dec. 31, 2024. However, this week, theHennepin County Board of Commissioners extended the timeline through the end of 2026.
Faust said the department is “really excited” about the extension.
According to Faust, the police department has seen its first drop in mental health calls in years.
“For really the last five years, we’ve seen a steady increase in mental health calls,” Faust said.
The peak came in 2022 with 1,291 mental health calls in Brooklyn Park.
In 2023, mental health calls decreased to 1,096.
“The only thing that really changed was the introduction of this Alternative Response Team,” Faust said. “I’m not ready to make a causal connection there, but there’s definitely some correlation between the work this team is doing and the decrease in those calls in our community.”
Faust hopes the department hopes to extend the unit’s operating hours later into the evening. It currently works during regular business hours.
“The team is extremely busy,” he added. “We need to keep pushing forward with this.
SOURCE: CCX MEDIA
