A new community center dedicated to serving people in crisis without help from the police opened in west Oakland Saturday morning.
While many demand more police to fight the gun violence gripping the city of Oakland another group sees the cops as the problem. The Anti Police-Terror Project, APTP, has led the call for defunding law enforcement and diverting half the money given to OPD toward mental health and wellness services. A lot of people feel that's unrealistic but, on Saturday, the effort became very real indeed.
The building will also be home to Mental Health First, a volunteer team that responds to mental health crises without police being notified. Coordinator Rebecca Ruiz says they can de-escalate a tense situation in ways police cannot. "We get calls directly from people in crisis but also from their family members or neighbors or even people in the street," Dr. Kantorova said."So, we see that as a success because people are calling us and not the police."
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