The City of Greensboro is expanding its effort to handle some mental health and substance abuse crises without sending police officers on the calls.
According to a city press release issued Thursday, May 22, the city’s Behavioral Health Response Team (BHRT) has officially launched what’s called the “Clinician Alternative Response” program – or CAR – which allows two behavioral health clinicians to respond to certain 911 calls rather than police officers.
The new response model is part of Greensboro’s Community Safety Department and it represents another step in the city’s broader attempt to rethink how some emergency calls are handled – particularly calls involving mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness or people in crisis who may not actually be committing crimes…