CRT Bill by BernieOHare on Scribd
Allentown City Council will soon, perhaps as early as this month, consider a bill that would basically require county 911 dispatchers to play God and decide whether to send police or social workers in response to 911 calls. In fact, in most instances, this ordinance would actually prevent county 911 operators from sending police. The Morning Call has some detail, but I thought you'd like to read the proposed ordinance yourself. This request purportedly comes from 2,000 registered voters. If that is so, and Council votes this down, the voters will be able to weigh in themselves in the November election.
City Clerk Mike Hanlon has 20 days to determine if the petition is sufficient, i.e. are there really 2,000 registered voters from Allentown who want social workers to respond to domestic disturbance calls?
The petitioners' committee includes Patrick Palmer, Susan Jordhauno (sp?), Mary Tomlinson, Lissette Pauulino and Sarina Torres.
Torres is running for City Council. Palmer tried, but failed, to meet the ballot deadline. City Council member Ce Ce Gerlach, who participated in "Fuck the Police" rallies in 2020, is of course a big advocate.
This issue came up at yesterday's Bethlehem City Council member debate. Most politely said they need more information. In Bethlehemese, that means No.
I'll have more tomorrow.
37 comments:
Common sense stuff if you read the full document. I’m one of the 2000 plus residents that signed this. If cops are requested 911 has to send cops.
Ban the Parking Authority, Don't prosecute Shop Lifting, Ban Cash Bail, Drop grading in school. Fuck the Police. And on and on and .....
Shit Hole country. Thank you Dems.
This is a horrible idea. Any council member who support this will loose my vote, and the votes of my neighbors.
We want police to respond to loud music and marijuana use in public. Respectfully, we are already too soft on these issues.
Common sense is obviously a flower that does not grow in Allentown gardens.
I tend to think this may be another money grab for some sort of social workers group.
"Common sense stuff if you read the full document. I’m one of the 2000 plus residents that signed this. If cops are requested 911 has to send cops."
I beg to differ. Calls concerning domestic disturbances are highly dangerous to police officers. A neighbor who hears a husband beating his wife is unable to judge how bad things are. Moreover, a city ordinance cannot bind a county dispatcher. This proposed ordinance is likely illegal on its face.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/22/us/domestic-incidents-police-officers-danger/index.html
Child poisoning felon dope dealer and rabid police defunding agitator Convict Hasshan Batts is a big supporting of giving every advantage to criminals. Leftist extremist Matt Tuerk and several Council members are his handmaidens.
Council Candidate Louis Acevedo refuses to say whether he supports tax dollars for Batts. That's concerning.
I've worked along social workers my entire life. They are wonderful. But this is not the role for them. Frankly I find it hard to believe they would even apply. This kind of conflict is not something passive social workers would want to deal with. Perhaps alongside police but never alone I'm sorry but this is just insane
I tried to look for results for all the great cities that have implemented such a plan. Although my search results are replete with really smart opiners from NPR, ACLU, and various universities extolling the merits of alternative policing. I guess it's too early to examine the results; however, Denver does appear to be one of the early adapters. Only time will tell I guess.
https://denvergazette.com/news/crime/denvers-car-theft-property-crime-rates-still-shocking-compared-to-other-cities/article_1619dd98-abe2-11ed-bc98-9355e30f6b9a.html
But color me suspicious when someone claims a six page Allentown ordinance is just "common sense."
I have heard, for many years, that domestic disturbances are unnerving calls for police. While they try to pull one person off the other, the other then tends to get protective of their abuser and now the officer has to two people attacking him. I have witnessed this scenario a few times.
Dumbest and most dangerous idea yet for Allentown. So police are not trained in conflict resolution and cannot diffuse situations? Totally doubt that. Someone will get killed, hurt or sued if this passes and Allentown will be even more dangerous than it has become now.
Section 6:1 says that 911 will dispatch a police officer if the threat of violence exists. Therefore your example makes no sense, as 911 would dispatch a police officer in this instance. This is is well thought-out policy that clearly leagues different from the ACAB policy that you’re trying to paint it as. It clearly establishes roles for police officers, rather than suggesting any dismantling of the force.
My experience is that police officers vastly overestimate their peacekeeping skills. They tend to be bullies instead.
Hanlon said at last week's meeting that the signatures have been found to be valid and city council will need to have this vote within the 60 day time period. So that is no longer in question. FYI.
I do think this is a bad idea, as written. Creating an either, or, situation is a mistake since there is no way to know what weapons are in the home. I do think it’s a good idea to include mental health professionals on specific calls, but sending out psychological specialists on their own is just a bad idea. Tuerk is such a babe-in-the-woods on law enforcement issues, and most city council members are in over their heads.
Until the first social worker is beaten or killed.
"Section 6:1 says that 911 will dispatch a police officer if the threat of violence exists. "
Incorrect. What is says is that social workers will be the default response to just about every 911 call. How on earth can a dispatcher know when there is a "threat of immediate physical injury or death?" Based on the language of the ordinance, it would be improper to have police to someone arguing with neighbors with a shotgun or samurai sword by his side bc the threat is not "immediate." It's completely ridiculous. What's more, you have failed to address what authority city council has to tell county dispatchers how to do their job. That alone makes the ordinance illegal on its face. How 911 dispatchers respond to incidents is governed by PEMA, not Allentown.
Just when you think some Allentown City council members cant get any dumber....Has noone read the news lately? Almost every single city which attempted some "alternative to policing" model has now realized their mistake once crime soared and quality of life diminished greatly and are hiring as many police as possible (see Miami, Asheville etc) You honestly think voters are so dumb that they cant see through this thinly veiled attempt at defunding police (something Ce-Ce Gerlach has been attempting to do for 3 years now) This laughable Ordinance in one paragraph states that police, who most have extensive training in de-escalation and dealing with mental health patients, don't possibly have the ability to deal with citizens of Allentown...so instead, they want a "behavior or mental health specialist" to respond, who's only qualification has to be "lived experience with behavioral health conditions." There is nothing else in the ordinance stating that the "mental health specialist" can't have a criminal record, has to pass a thorough background check etc. In fact, the only requirement is that they ARE NOT FORMER LAW ENFORCEMENT! I wonder why? I wonder if a certain group in the Neighborhood has been Promised that their members will become paid "mental health specialists" (and possibly wear orange shirts too when responding??? just my guess). Also, what about the liability for Allentown? Someone calls 911 for a suspicious person (a call that is spelled out in the ordinance as a call police wont respond to) Instead of police responding, some community member does and finds an armed man staking out a house for a home invasion. The male gets spooked and breaks into the house. What now? What does the community member do? Call 911? Lets say that takes another 3 minutes for the cops to show up and in that time the person kills everyone in the house. Id assume Allentown would be liable for sending a person with "lived experience with behavioral health conditions" instead of a trained officer. Hopefully, everyone sees through yet another defunding campaign by Ce-Ce et al regardless of what they call their newest venture.
What other candidates support Batts? They will not be getting my vote.
I think many of us will agree that Gerlach and other “defunders” are reckless idiots. However, she remains as one of seven votes on Council.
The beauty of it is that there is an election coming on May 16th, and she is on the ballot. Allentown voters have the opportunity to vote better candidates into office (although they’d still have to put up with Gerlach until her term ends at the end of the year).
So my advice would be that every democrat who cares about law and order pick the three best candidates on that subject and vote for them. This proposal should be voted down quickly and every council candidate should take a position on it now, so primary voters know where they stand.
Under no circumstances vote for Gerlach or anyone who thinks like her.
Otherwise, city residents are screwed.
And let’s remember that 9-1-1 has been billed nationwide as the number to call for police, fire and ambulance services, not social workers. So what happens when someone from another city calls 911 with the expectation that they’ll be getting an actual police officer for their issue? My guess is it’s a liability disaster waiting to happen.
Why not set up a separate hotline for people to call to have social workers solve their problem. That way, the caller has the choice. I know who my neighborhood would choose to call and have respond to their issues, and it isn’t the social workers.
Because it’s nationally known, 9-1-1 has to be kept for traditional services. If people want social workers, let them find another number.
The whole thing about wailing sirens and flashing lights is bogus. The city is home to three major hospitals and numerous fire stations.
Even if every police car was taken off the streets, the ambulances and fire
trucks will still be there. So people will still hear sirens and see flashing lights no matter what.
Sorry, but it’s part of living in the city. If that’s going to trigger someone, it’s going to happen anyway.
Instead of creating a brigade of social workers, the city would be better off funding an institution for those who have mental issues.
City Hall isn’t big enough to house them all.
Good luck finding a bunch of applicants in 2023 to be low-paid, unarmed (even with pepper spray) mobile social workers who get dispatched to diffuse disturbances involving visiting mentally disturbed or drunk/high people. Are they going to be the same people to attempt to corral rogue urban ATV riders or double parkers, who are often obnoxious/bat shit crazy individuals as well?
The entire proposal is a misappropriation of funds.
Imagine how many social workers you'd have to pay to respond promptly to issues from one end of the city to another. We're not talking a few, it would take hundreds to cover the three shifts (and days off) 24/7. The cost would be enormous.
We need more police. That's where any funds for this proposal should go.
These groups (there are a few) do not want to live by any set of rules. So this, just like the fight against the Parking Authority, is an attempt to control things. I see a few issues with the implementation of this idea. The first, is getting Lehigh County on board. Conveniently this is proposed for 2024, when DA Martin will no longer be around. He would never let this happen. Second, more people will undoubtedly get physically hurt...lack of response, delayed response, lazy social/mental health workers, lack of training, etc... It will happen. And when it does, the local "end violence groups" will be out crying for more money to "fix" things. This plan feeds their business model. All this for certain groups that don't like police (I wonder why????), are money hungry, and need to justify their existence to keep the money flowing in.
Who is really helping the citizens of Allentown and is in it for the right reasons? Good luck Allentown.
These groups do not want to live with laws. This, just like the fight against the parking authority, is an attempt for them to do what they want. There are a few problems with this implementation. First, getting Lehigh county on board will be tough. Conveniently, this is set for 2024 when DA Martin will be gone. He would never let this happen. Second, there will be more people physically hurt. Lack of response times, lack of training, social/mental health worker work ethic, etc... It will happen. And when it does, the local "end violence" groups will be requesting more money to "fix" the problem. This bill feeds their business model. Create chaos so that more money is thrown at the problem. They have to justify their existence somehow to keep the gravy train going.
Is there anyone in Allentown that is actually doing things for the right reason, and not some angle? Good luck.
Well one way to correct the problem of police killing folks for BS is to require that the police try de-escalation instead of "obey me or die" method.
Numerous times police ramp up the incident as that is all they know or want to know.
Often those police when even caught on film get to skate away with no or limited consequences.
Yep the officer loses a vacation day--the horror.
The oops i thought i had my taser (purposely made a different shape from a gun)when shooting the evil doer who had an air freshener on the car mirror-- Capital punishment for minor infraction?.
The problem can be solved when the decent rational cops drive out the gunslingers.
You know who you never hear pushing this approach…..the social workers themselves. Actually talk to one and you’ll see they want no part of it.
How does anyone know until they arrive if it's going to be violent?
They are police. Not social workers
This tells me that Allentown has at least 2,000 nut jobs as residents. I don't regret moving out.
This is complete insanity! They’re going to get people killed and the city sued.
Thanks for sharing this important information about our community. It’s being proposed at city council meeting tonite.
The more mental health interventions and services the better!!! Lady knows there is a lot of insanity in our world.
It was actually closer to 4000 voter signatures. But thanks for the info!!
So who's going to be in charge of hiring these individuals? Are they going to require a criminal background check? Drug testing? Performance reviews? Should they be required to wear body cameras as most police officers do? Some jurisdictions now are also requiring their fire and medical responders wear body cameras now, since they represent the city/town they work for.
Which leads to the next question - will there going to be some type of oversight and/or accountability if a situation is not handled properly?
Also - Under section seven, it states that "No MCRT staff will proactively disclose any information gathered on calls to any state, local, or federal law enforcement agency". What if they respond, deal with a person that is making verbal threats, that isn't physically violent at that time, and after the "MCRT" responder departs, that person carries out that threat and harms or kills someone? Who's liable for that? The city? The "MCRT" person that was there? I would think that not reporting that information properly would open up the city to a huge civil liability.
Drug dealing scumbag Hassan Batts needs to be investigated and audited ... All that grant money and what has he done? Put up a billboard .. Keep these idiots away from policing and politics, all they do is weaken the country !!! Communist is the new Democrat ....
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