Bellingham City Council to discuss police oversight board, 24/7 crisis response team
As part of the national conversation surrounding policing and alternatives to policing, the Bellingham City Council will begin discussions on whether to create a 24/7 crisis response team and a civilian police oversight board at its upcoming meeting on Monday, Aug. 24, according to the City Council agenda.
The discussion surrounding the 24/7 crisis response team for mental health, substance use and other public health needs will take place during the Public Health, Safety and Justice committee meeting at 1 p.m., the agenda shows.
The committee, which is made up of council members Dan Hammill, Hollie Huthman and Hannah Stone, will discuss the need for a 24/7 crisis response team that would respond to 911 calls related to behavioral or mental health, substance use or other public health needs, such as homelessness. The committee will discuss programs elsewhere, such as the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon.
Hammill said he’s had discussions with local law enforcement where officers tell him that a large portion of their daily calls have a behavioral health or substance use component to them. In a recent Bellingham Police Department video series, an officer said that many patrol officers estimate that roughly 70% of their daily calls are for social service-related issues.
Hammill said communities’ most vulnerable citizens have been abandoned by federal and state governments, leaving local cities and counties to come up with funds and solutions to national problems. In a recent Facebook post on his public page, Hammill called for funding the 24/7 crisis response team by taking money from the Bellingham Police Department’s existing budget, which is $30.7 million, or approximately one-third of Bellingham’s revised general fund budget for 2020.
“Bellingham’s next budget should be a blueprint for appropriate and effective mental health and substance use response, not a monument to 40 years of failed national policy for our most vulnerable residents,” Hammill said in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. “When it comes to funding those important programs, we can’t print money or make money. We have to stay within our budget, that’s how we do business. But within that, we have to be creative and come up with solutions and address the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. We can’t continue to fail them. We need to help them and their families. This is a moral imperative.”
Hammill cited the CAHOOTS program out of Eugene that has been operating for three decades. The program, which is based out of a healthcare clinic and sends mobile response teams to 911 calls that are not appropriate for law enforcement, handled roughly 18% of Eugene’s 133,000 911 calls in 2019, according to information provided to the city council. Police were called for backup to 150 of the roughly 24,000 CAHOOTS calls, the data shows. In addition, the program has saved an average of $8.5 million annually on public safety costs from 2014-2017, and saved $14 million on ambulance and ER treatment costs in 2019.
Hammill said the call for a 24/7 crisis team is not a referendum on Bellingham police. He also said the discussion for this type of team has been in the works for some time and is not borne out of an incident in September 2019 where four Bellingham police officers used a man with a known severe mental illness to play a prank on other off-duty officers eating inside an all-night restaurant.
“For me, I’m looking for solutions here. We have people suffering in our community and that have lost faith in their government that there will be any kind of meaningful response. To me, that breaks my heart. I want to be sure we’re proactive, with all oars rowing the same direction. I have my eyes wide open on this,” Hamill said.
Council member Michael Lilliquist said before discussions happen surrounding funding a new crisis response system, or taking funds from another department, the council and community need to figure out what that new system will look like. He said groundwork has to be done, including waiting to see what the effects on the volume and nature of service calls to 911 are, before budget decisions can be made. Lilliquist said the community will face upfront costs and growing pains in trying to build something new.
“While I hope for cost savings in the long run, my goal would be to truly serve the community more fairly and faithfully, not just cheaper,” Lilliquist said.
Huthman said implementing a 24/7 crisis response team seems like something where everyone from law enforcement to behavioral health experts can work together to be successful. She said a large piece of the puzzle is that there is a lack of services or places to take people to get treatment for behavioral health or substance use disorder issues. Huthman said while the crisis stabilization facility is currently being built, there need to be more places for emergency and long-term care in the community to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks.
Huthman said it will take time for Bellingham to build up a program to a level similar to the CAHOOTS program, and while defunding police is one option, Huthman said she wants to ensure there isn’t a gap in services or compromise community safety.
“I think for our community, what I want them to see is that we have effective and appropriate responses to our issues and problems and needs, and we don’t have to do things the same way just because that’s the way we’ve always done them. With more information, research and evidence and tested solutions, we need to be changing and adapting and growing and … evolve our responses to our needs,” Huthman said. “This is just the start of a discussion. We invite people to follow along and be engaged, and definitely encourage people to give input on the things we’re talking about.”
Police oversight board
The council will also discuss implementing a civilian oversight board for the Bellingham Police Department.
The discussion will take place during the Committee of The Whole meeting, with all council members, starting at 2 p.m.
Police civilian oversight boards have been adopted in roughly 200 cities across the U.S., according to information provided to the council. Creating a civilian oversight board is a way to improve public trust, ensure accessible complaint processes, promote thorough and fair investigations, increase transparency and deter police misconduct, a memo from a city legislative analyst states.
Lilliquist said he’s been in favor of improved police oversight for several years, but that the council and others have been stymied by disagreement on the nature and type of oversight. He said there are a number of models that can be followed when creating an oversight board.
“Some people have asked for oversight bodies that would violate due process rights and conflict with parts of our state law, but there are forms of oversight that do not have those problems. In my view, police officers will accept forms of oversight that respect their due-process rights and apply sound legal standards for conduct. To do that requires some professional involvement as well, not just volunteer citizens,” Lilliquist said.
Huthman said she wants to be thoughtful in how the community implements some kind of oversight. She said she wants to make sure it’s done in a way that works best for Bellingham.
Council member Gene Knutson said he’s willing to take a hard look at implementing an oversight board for the police department. He said the idea has been brought up before, but discussions have not moved forward. Knutson, who was first elected to the council in 1993, said overall he believes Bellingham has a good police department and that an oversight board would help residents have more faith in who is on the police force and what officers are doing.
“This is the first time I have been willing to take a good hard look. I did not think it was necessary before, but we have to really take a good hard look at it,” Knutson said.
Knutson said by having the council discuss these issues “it sends a strong message to the community that we’re not sitting back and doing nothing. We get calls all the time about reallocating money or flat out defunding the police department. We’re listening and we’re taking everything seriously.”
Lilliquist said the discussions speak to the national moment focusing on policing and police misconduct. He said while the issue is complex and has many facets, these two topics, while different from one another, are part of a comprehensive look at the issue.
“We heard stories of personal discrimination that went well outside of policing or the emergency response system. The stories touched on almost every aspect of people’s lives. Systemic injustice and racism goes well beyond city government, and so what we can do at City Hall is only part of the picture but an important part,” Lilliquist said. “Let’s keep in mind that outrage over racial injustice and systemic bias is a main driving force behind the desire to make changes. That adds a moral and ethical component that cannot be ignored or put off.”
Reports from each committee and discussions will be given at the full council meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday.
Council meetings are streamed live on the city’s website at meetings.cob.org and on the city’s YouTube channel. Meetings are broadcast on BTV, Comcast channels 10 and 321.
