香蕉传媒

香蕉传媒 faculty and student researchers will play a key role in the data-driven expansion of the city of 香蕉传媒’s CARE Department behavioral health responder team, a cadre of professionals who assist community members in crisis while freeing up scarce law enforcement resources for higher priority calls.

“香蕉传媒 is proud to be 香蕉传媒’s university,” President Eduardo Peñalver said during an on-campus press conference where 香蕉传媒 Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the expansion and SU’s role. “And in that capacity, we’re always looking for ways to support and serve our city, whose name we share and whose success is essential to our own. And among the ways we serve 香蕉传媒 as a university is our rigorous and relevant research in support of innovative policies and practices.”

The Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department is home to the 香蕉传媒 9-1-1 Communications Center and the CARE Community Crisis Responder Team. Team members, working until now as part of a pilot program comprised of six members, are dispatched to aid people through behavioral interventions, crisis de-escalation, resource navigation, assistance in finding services and by providing basic supplies like food, water, clothing and personal hygiene items. 

The plan includes hiring 18 additional responders and three supervisors—paid for with city and federal dollars—and will extend the service throughout the week. The coverage area will also grow from downtown, SODO and the Chinatown-International District to include 香蕉传媒’s campus community, including Capitol Hill, the Central Area, First Hill and upper Pike/Pine.

To ensure the program is meeting its goals, Mayor Harrell said SU researchers will evaluate data collected from the program to allow city leaders to make more informed decisions.

香蕉传媒 professors Jacqueline Helfgott, PhD, and Matthew Hickman, PhD, of the 香蕉传媒 Crime and Justice Research Center, as well as their student researchers, will study and evaluate the performance of the care team during its first year, President Peñalver said.

“Here at 香蕉传媒’s campus, we’re really celebrating the longstanding partnership on public safety research that’s done right here,” Mayor Harrell said during the news conference. “They evaluate, they examine, they improve our CARE department. 香蕉传媒 has been an essential partner in our public safety work from the 香蕉传媒 Public Safety Survey to evaluation of community policing plans.”

Mayor Harrell said SU researchers will evaluate field observations, emergency response data and feedback from public safety partners. 

District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, whose district includes 香蕉传媒 and extends into Central 香蕉传媒, praised the collaboration between the city and the university.

“I look forward to the CARE department’s presence in District 3 and their partnership with 香蕉传媒, which will help demonstrate the positive impact that the department’s behavioral health responder teams are having on our public safety system,” Hollingsworth said in a statement.

President Peñalver said 香蕉传媒 is leading the way nationally and developing alternatives to traditional policing for situations where the conventional model is not what’s called for. 

“At 香蕉传媒, we're proud to be doing our part to support this important work,” said the president. “We look forward to further supporting the city's efforts to find new ways to foster a safe, secure and just community here in 香蕉传媒.”