Santa Rosa considers sending unarmed social service workers to mental health crisis calls

Santa Rosa is looking to Eugene, Oregon, as a model for its future as the city explores its program that sends unarmed social service workers to nonviolent calls for aid instead of armed police officers.

Santa Rosa’s police chief and members of the City Council’s public safety committee voiced support for the creation of a similar initiative following a presentation Friday on a program in Eugene known as Cahoots, short for Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets.

The program, which has existed for about 30 years in Eugene, dispatches unarmed workers to thousands of calls for service annually involving mental health crises, checking on the welfare of a person and engaging with people who appear disoriented and intoxicated, said Santa Rosa Police Capt. John Cregan, who has been studying Eugene’s program. The program costs about $1.2 million per year and provides round-the-clock coverage, Cregan said.

The concept was endorsed by members of the City Council’s public safety subcommittee, which was formed this summer after protests in Santa Rosa against racial inequality and police brutality.

“We need to bring that Cahoots model here to Santa Rosa,” said Mayor Tom Schwedhelm, a former Santa Rosa police chief. “I don’t think we need to wait.”

Vice Mayor Victoria Fleming, a social worker by trade, expressed interest in sending unarmed, nonuniformed personnel to respond to certain crisis calls, as well as the possibility of transporting people in vehicles that aren’t marked police cars.

“I believe that is a way to avoid criminalizing a mental health problem, or something that is a disease or an addiction,” Fleming said.

Police Chief Ray Navarro, who was present at Friday’s meeting, also voiced his support for a Cahoots-style program in Santa Rosa. In a subsequent presentation, Navarro shared data on thousands of annual calls for service related to mental illness and homelessness, which make up about 5% of his department’s average annual call volume.

A Cahoots program in Santa Rosa “would be beneficial,” Navarro said, as it would free up officers’ time and could help the city provide better service when working with people experiencing homelessness or mental health crises.

The next steps for Santa Rosa likely involve contracts with consultants. Navarro recommended finding an outside expert to do a more formal review of police call data. Cregan noted that officials in Eugene have worked on contract with other cities, such as Denver and Vancouver, to create Cahoots programs of their own. And Fleming suggested enlisting an expert who has “deep experience” in mental health to shape the city’s program.

Cregan noted that a similar existing program, Sonoma County’s mobile support team, is far more limited than Cahoots, due in part to recent budget cuts. The Sonoma County program only operates in afternoons and evenings and doesn’t arrive on a scene until police have secured it, Cregan said.

Responding to a question from Councilman John Sawyer about community concerns, Cregan also acknowledged that police presence could make some situations worse.

“Each situation is unique, and each individual is unique, but there are certainly some times when just the mere presence of a uniform can be a trigger for some individuals in our community,” Cregan said.

While pro-police sentiment dominated the community messages submitted before the meeting via phone and email, advocates of defunding the police and reallocation of dollars spent on law enforcement took the day during live public comment periods. Many urged council members to both take money away from the Santa Rosa Police Department and put funds toward unarmed responses to calls related to mental health crises, such as a person experiencing a break from reality.

“I just told my friends, if I ever have a mental breakdown, please don’t call the police,” said a woman who identified herself as Delashay. “That would be like the last thing I’d want to see, is a car with blue lights pulling up when I’m already stressed. ... We need to defund the police, and refund the people.”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.