COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Eight months after Columbus City Council announced it would aside money to pilot a nonpolice emergency response program, city leaders have yet to take the first steps toward implementing that program.
From deploying mobile response teams of crisis-trained officers and mental health clinicians to embedding social workers in 911 call centers, the city has worked for years to build a portfolio of alternative response teams for mental health and substance use-related calls. But a program proposed for years by community advocates – and funded for the first time this summer in the city’s operating budget – has not gotten off the ground.