Paul Bass file photo
Police, firefighters, and paramedics response to 2018 K-2 poisonings on the Green.
A lead proponent of City Hall’s planned new social work-centered mobile crisis response team kicked off his citywide tour of the proposed program with a double-edged reassurance.
The initiative will neither be a magic bullet, nor an avenue to “defund the police.”
Community Service Administration (CSA) Project Fresh Start Director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo gave that update Thursday night during a 15-minute presentation to the Fair Haven Community Management Team.
The neighborhood group held its monthly meeting online via the Zoom videoconferencing platform.
Sosa-Lombardo pitched neighbors on a program that City Hall unveiled this summer, which if implemented would have a team of medical professionals, social workers, and mental health experts picking up thousands of 911 calls instead of the overburdened police.
The general reaction among the three dozen people who heard the pitch: high interest, some passionate support and some serious questioning.
There were 35 attendees in the gathering hosted by the FHCMT’s Chair Diane Ecton and Corresponding Secretary David Weinreb.
Most of the main features of the proposed program and its context were laid out in Mayor Just Elicker’s Aug. 18 press conference announcing the initiative, which you can read about here.
You can also read the entire back and forth among Sosa-Lombardo, FHCMT’s Chair Diane Ecton, Fair Haven resident and Yale employee Mark Firla, and others here, in this recording of the meeting.
Below are some abbreviated highlights, focusing on aspects that grabbed the interest of Fair Haveners, including sources of funding, to whom the future team will report, and whether, after de-escalation, there are enough service providers — shelters, hospitals, and so forth — to whom the non-police mobile team can bring the individuals in distress.
“An Opportunity Here For Something Very Wonderful”
Thomas Breen file photo
Project Fresh Start Coordinator Carlos Sosa-Lombardo.
Sosa-Lombardo: Our plan is to create a mobile crisis team, social workers and medical workers, responding to situations that do not involve criminal activity, emphasizing de-escalation, and adapting models for the New Haven context.… Currently we think 11,000 calls (annually) or 10 percent can be to the mobile unit … We need community input for the planning process … and we need funding. We’re in the process of securing funding. We envision six months of planning and then (full) implementation in three or four years would lead to a 24-hour service provision across the city. Any questions?
Mark Firla: Who (asked with respect) do you report to, Carlos?
Sosa-Lobardo: We envision the Community Services Administration (would be the department the mobile unit would report to).
Firla: And what are your measures for success?
Sosa-Lombardo: We haven’t gone that far, and the community should play a role in (determining) that. We will require the contractor who gets the job to have an independent evaluator. We envision whoever runs it will be a qualified contractor; we envision a mental health provider.
Firla: My understanding is this came out of a mayoral initiative, that Justin Elicker started this process. If we’re going to do an RFP for a service provider, how do you fit into this? Are you a city employee?
Sosa-Lombardo: Yes, I work in the CSA.
Firla: I think this is the best thing we’ve done in a few years. I want this to work.
Dian Ecton: I know how the crisis teams works… but when de-escalation is done, do we have the places for people to go?
Sosa-Lombardo: Yes, destinations are key for this. That’s one of the things we’re doing, mapping the providers, and so far we’ve found programs that can serve as alternate destinations.
Ecton: A person with substance abuse … I think a family member can help (more than the individual if he/she is incoherent) … are you considering that?
Sosa-Lombardo: Yes, I’d like (also) to create focus groups (to discuss such ideas), we’re looking into requiring the contractor in the planning phase to help determine this.
David Weinreb: What are you asking of us to realize this vision?
Sosa-Lombardo: I would like everyone’s commitment to be part of the planning process when it starts next year. What we’re doing now is preliminary. Also, as a group if you can come up with some recommendations, I’d love to see (them).
Firla: Where is the money coming from?
Sosa-Lombardo: We’re still trying to figure out where the money is coming from.
Firla: To follow up, is it fair to say that within the city administration, this is an unfunded mandate? The mayor has initiated it but has not tied it to a funding stream?
Sosa-Lombardo: That’s right. We’re hunting for funds right now… We are not looking to defund the police rhrough this.
Firla: As citizens what can we do to encourage (this project)? With absolute respect for (Fair Haven District Manager) Sgt. (Michael) Fumiatti, I just heard him say how we’re cut (that is, the number of officers available these days) and we’re limited in what we can do (previous conversation in Fumiatti’s report was about a shortage of officers to respond to calls of drug dealing, intoxication, or sex work if there is no violence involved). Maybe you need social workers for that … there is an opportunity here for something very wonderful here and New Haven needs money … I think we should talk to our representatives… I think it would be criminal and immoral if this disappeared. I want to be at every meeting for this.
Sosa-Lombardo: I get goosebumps hearing that… Internally we are hoping to secure planning funds, eventually to be approved by the Board of Alders. I’ll keep you posted. I hope we can lead on this model and get other cities on board.
The discussion ended with Sosa-Lombardo urging the gathering to support efforts of State Sen. Gary Winfied and the city’s delegation in police accountability and other legislation in Hartford that might ultimately provide funding for the proposed mobile crisis team.
This program will need funding, places for people to go to for services like drug rehab programs and homeless housing and mental health services and counseling. It's going to take lots of patience, trial and error, and creative problem solving to get it right, I hope that the city and the team won't give up on it if it doesn't work perfectly right away. I would figure that it's going to need a lot of adjustments and fundamental change is always a very hard translation to make for the police and the community. But wouldn't it be great if someone who was having a mental health crisis, a substance abuse issue, a homeless person could get the initial help they need with the appropriate professionals who are trained to handle people in crisis, and then get entered into a long term program to support them in managing and changing their situation for the better. And wouldn't it be great if the police had the support of a team who was trained to handle these situations in a non-criminal manner, to lift the burden off the police whose training doesn't prepare them for this type of approach. In addition, the training of police officers should be overhauled for more deescalation and disarmament and non-violent negotiations and intervention techniques, and should include officer counseling, therapy and periodic evaluations to address burnout and ptsd that are potential mental health hazards of the job of policing.