Moon-faced Assassin of Joy's avatar

Moon-faced Assassin of Joy

@nome.bsky.social

Here in Denver, you're now seeing STARs vans everywhere - "Support Team Assisted Response." It's a medic and a social worker, both trained in mental health and addiction support, showing up instead of police. They offer support to homeless folks, people in crisis, and folks in altered states.

17 replies 223 reposts 741 likes


Sraars's avatar Sraars @sraars.comrades.social
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Not going to lie, when I see STARS vans I get a little worried that there is an Umbrella facility around.

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R James Harvey's avatar R James Harvey @aliveagain.bsky.social
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This seems AMAZING! Do you know if 911 calls are sometimes referred to STAR, or do those all go to police dispatch?

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TORHusky's avatar TORHusky @torhusky.queerdog.club
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It's just an incredible program, and one I will gleefully pay for I still love how the pilot for it years ago went so well they quadrupled the budget and immediately fully implemented it at the end.

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Ahimsa's avatar Ahimsa @ahimsa-pdx.bsky.social
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Thanks for the info! This sounds similar to a program we have here in Portland Oregon called Portland Street Response:

www.portland.gov/fire/streetr...

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Deramin's avatar Deramin @deramin.bsky.social
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So glad you're having a good experience with the program! I would like to add for people who feel this method is interested and experimental, it was pioneered by the CAHOOTS program of Eugene, Oregon since 1989. We have lots of data that it works.

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Moon-faced Assassin of Joy's avatar Moon-faced Assassin of Joy @nome.bsky.social
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They've handled almost 8000 calls since they started four years ago. Half of those have resulted in referrals to services so folks can get the help they need and deserve. A third have straight up given free rides to places like shelters and food banks. 12% have gotten people medical assistance.

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Electrichead's avatar Electrichead @electrichead.bsky.social
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This is great but you should have picked a different acronym, this dude is only smart for a Tyrant, and will NOT be able to tell the difference between you and the guys he actually wants.

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🚲aksfjh👖's avatar 🚲aksfjh👖 @db-user.bsky.social
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that program is such a massive success I hope it's adopted across Colorado

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Morticia91's avatar Morticia91 @morticia91.bsky.social
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So do the support staff also teach cops that DEAF PEOPLE CAN'T HEAR THEIR COMMANDS? Because that's appparently a thing they need to be trained on.

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Annelaura's avatar Annelaura @annelaura.bsky.social
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I am not surprised that they have not needed to bring in police in four years while on a call. It’s amazing how much you can stop a situation from escalating when you are good at deescalation, are not armed and try to bully your way through every situation.

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Robin Marwick's avatar Robin Marwick @electricland.bsky.social
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Toronto has one of those too — it’s pretty great! www.toronto.ca/community-pe...

1 replies 1 reposts 9 likes


Bennett Gilbert's avatar Bennett Gilbert @bennettgilbert.bsky.social
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They handle people in trouble in this enlightened way in the advanced countries. Here is our barbarian land we mostly just shoot them.

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Hangry Man's avatar Hangry Man @hangryman.bsky.social
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Okay so I just read through shit, and uhhh. Look I might want to maybe consider moving to Denver if I ever have the money... DAMN why does Denver have to be in a place that gets cold, I hate the cold so much.

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Plognark's avatar Plognark @plognark.bsky.social
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This seems very good.

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Sean's avatar Sean @publichealth.bsky.social
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god i wish we had these

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's avatar @ujlius.bsky.social
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📌

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Cezary Jan Strusiewicz's avatar Cezary Jan Strusiewicz @ostrichson.bsky.social
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This is so cool.

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