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Outreach officers treat homelessness as a symptom, not a crime

Stephanie Casanova

May 01, 2021 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Tucson Police Department's Homeless Outreach Team operates on the premise that even though many want to see police excluded from any role in dealing with homelessness, residents still call 911 and demand a police response. So the team, working with the city's homeless services counselors, can usually turn such contacts into an offer of help. Its officers are trained more and have more time than patrol officers to talk to people and determine their needs. Tucson's unhoused population surged in 2020, and police helped hundreds get housed or get other services without resorting to arrests and jail.

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Police visit patients, offer rides to mental health treatment

Stephanie Casanova

April 30, 2021 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

When people refuse mental health care while under court orders to get treatment, Tucson police send a mental health support team to take the people to crisis observation clinics or hospitals. The teams have the training and extra time that regular patrol officers often lack, so that such calls can result in a peaceful transport to get the person help, rather than to jail or ending in violence. Having the police involved at all poses policy questions that agencies wrestle with. But thousands of people per year are getting transported to places providing care instead of punishment.

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Officers try to break stigma, offer help to drug users

Stephanie Casanova

April 29, 2021 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Tucson Police Department's Substance Use Resource Team reaches out on the streets to people with substance-use disorder, offering them treatment instead of arrest and jail. The team is an extension of the department's mental health support team and was started in response to the opioid epidemic. Officers talk to people they find on the streets, or follow up on 911 calls for overdoses. Not everyone accepts the offered help, and some end up arrested on warrants. But, at a time of rising overdose deaths, the officers and the peer support specialists who accompany them often can get people into treatment.

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State effort seeks to counter mental health problems worsened by pandemic

Stephanie Casanova

December 22, 2020 |

This is Tucson |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

Resilient Arizona is a crisis counseling program that is funded by a federal grant and managed by the Crisis Response Network to mitigate the mental health effects of the pandemic. The crisis counseling is intended to help avoid progression of mental health concerns and the program is free and anonymous to all residents. Services are available in Spanish and English, with 23% of clients identifying as Latinx and Hispanic and 10% Spanish-speaking. After calling a help line, residents are connected to one of six contracted providers across the state. The program served 2,316 people from April to August 2020.

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Este programa estatal brinda servicios de salud mental agravados por la pandemia

Stephanie Casanova

September 23, 2020 |

La Estrella de Tucsón |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Resilient Arizona es un programa estatal de ayuda para la salud mental que esta ayudando a miembros de la comunidad Latina durante la pandemia. El programa ha sido adoptado por seis proveedores dentro del estado, y ha recibido una segunda ronda de financiación.

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Pascua Yaqui, Tohono O'odham respond to community needs during coronavirus pandemic

Stephanie Casanova

May 11, 2020 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham tribal leaders took quick action to support members during the Covid-19 pandemic. They instituted a curfew, required face masks, and ensured that tribal members had sufficient food and supplies. The Pascua Yaqui’s information technology team created an app for residents to easily provide household information and request food, household goods and cleaning supplies. Federal rescue money allocated to the tribes has not arrived, so the tribes created their own systems of caring for their tribal members by securing essential goods and distributing them to those in need.

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