It’s time to make Lakewood safer for everyone.
Lakewood’s use of arrest to respond to homelessness, addiction, and mental illness is ineffective, harmful, and deadly.
Lakewood PD has the 2nd largest Police budget in the state, yet was rated as the 4th worst in the state for ineffectiveness, over-policing and racialized policing. Non-police response teams have proven effective in multiple cities. Implementing a program in Lakewood will make our community safer, and save lives and tax dollars. Learn More
Tell Lakewood City Council to create 12 month Lakewood Alternate Responder pilot program using $200k of the city’s budget.
Email Lakewood City Council
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Call Lakewood City Council
Find your councilmember here
Mayor Adam Paul 303-987-7040
Ramey Johnson 303-232-1567
Charley Able 303-233-7275
Jacob LaBure 720-628-9161
Sharon Vincent 720-979-1449
Mike Bieda 303-987-7740
Anita Springsteen 303-987-7743
David Skilling 303-987-7748
Barb Franks 720-515-6501
Karen Harrison 303-987-7767
Dana Gutwein 303-987-7776
Phone Script
Hi my name is [YOUR NAME ] I am from [ YOUR ZIP] and I am calling to express my support for the Alternate Responder Pilot Program.
Lakewood has relied on police for too long to resolve every issue in our community. Policing is not an effective way to handle homelessness, mental health emergencies, and other low level issues.
This is important to me because:
[STATE YOUR PERSONAL REASON FOR CALLING]
Alternate responder programs have already proven safe, effective, and save tax-dollars in Denver.
Compared to other cities in Colorado, Lakewood spends more than most per capita on law enforcement, spending a tremendous amount of tax dollars addressing nonviolent situations that don’t involve a crime.
A Non-Police Responder pilot program is a great first step toward improving our community response to these issues.
Get notified of opportunities to help start an Alternate Responder Program in Lakewood.
The Problem:
It is expensive, ineffective, and dangerous to send in police to do a social worker’s job.
Lakewood spends more on police than 79% of departments in Colorado, yet rates 4th worst in the state for disproportionate use of force against communities of color and arrests for low-level offenses (offenses that do not put the public at risk, but do put the arrestee at risk for destabilization, job loss, and loss of their family).
Lakewood’s Failing Score
Lakewood PD scored a failing 40% out of 100 from policescorecard.org for using more force, having larger budgets, holding officers less accountable, and for making more arrests for low-level offenses.
Lakewood Racial Disparity
Based on population, a Black person was 10.7x as likely to be killed by police as a White person in Lakewood from 2013-20 and had more racial disparities in Deadly Force than 92% of departments.
Lakewood Over-policing
69% of all arrests were for low-level, non-violent offenses from 2013-19 with a higher arrest rate for low-level offenses than 98% of departments. (Only 2% of arrests in the same time period were made for violent crime).
The Solution:
Non-police response teams have thrived and expanded in multiple cities, saving lives and tax-dollars.
A significant portion of 911 calls are related to quality-of-life and other low-priority incidents that may require a time-sensitive response but are better suited to civilian responders, rather than armed police officers. Alternate responder teams are unarmed teams equipped with specialized responders such as social workers and health care workers, that get better outcomes at less expense to the taxpayer for mental health emergencies, people experiencing homelessness, and intoxication and substance-use issues. Many programs are looking to expand the scope beyond these issues as well, to further reduce the potential for harm.
Non-response team case studies:
Photo: The Denverite
Denver STAR Program
The Support Team Assistance Response (STAR) team is a community program that redirects some 911 calls to a Mental Health Center of Denver social worker and a Denver Health paramedic. STAR re-imagines public safety using harm reduction methods and removing the police from non-violent situations. Denver is already expanding its STAR program from one to four vans and extending STAR's hours of operations from eight to sixteen hours and from five to seven days a week. In the first 6 months:
68%
of the calls involved people experiencing homelessness
52.6%
of the calls involved people with mental health issues.
41%
of people were to referred shelters, crisis centers or hospitals
0
calls led to arrest or required Denver Police assistance.
Photo: whitebirdclinic.org
Eugene CAHOOTS Program
CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is a mobile crisis-intervention program that was created in 1989 in Eugene, Oregon. It has since saved taxpayers $8.7 million dollars a year, while creating better outcomes for residents.
2%
of the safety budget used
17%
share of the city’s 911 calls
1%
of the calls needed police backup
$8.7 million
taxdollars saved per year
“It’s critical that we send the right response. That’s how we get the better outcomes...You have a safer community and you have better outcomes for people in crisis.”