Sara Harper started at Denver 911 in 2013. While she found the job rewarding, she often worked long hours and struggled with anxiety. After a few years, she decided to leave.Sara Harper started at Denver 911 in 2013. While she found the job rewarding, she often worked long hours and struggled with anxiety. After a few years, she decided to leave.Sara Harper says nothing really prepares you for the moment you put on that 911 headset.
As more cities deploy these new responders, the decision of when to use them usually rests with already stressed 911 workers. "You're considered someone who gets resources, handles things, gets officers to the scene, and then you're kind of left out of the picture at that point," she added,"without having any closure or resolution or even being treated as though you're a key decision maker, which you are."Deciding what might be a good fit for an alternative response can be challenging, Gillooly says.
At a recent training, instructor John Shryock taught new hires about the STAR program, which the city rolled out in 2020 as an alternative to police. Every day, eight vans rove the city, each with an emergency medical responder and a mental health clinician on board."You're not going to send a cop to fight a fire," Shryock told the class."Why send a cop to deal with somebody who's in a mental health crisis?""They do not have any body armor.
"You take care of the people who take care of the people," he says."If we don't support the folks here, then how can we expect them to show up the way they do for our residents?"