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The problem lies in history of Indian Police since Mughal times and then British India rule.Policing in Mughal Rule“The Mughals continued the indigenous system of village policing. The Mughal province was a replica of the Central Government, and the administration centered in the head quarters.The Governor of a province was called the Subedar and under him were the Foujdars, who were in charge of sub-divisions. Though the Foujdar was mainly a revenue official he had also the responsibility of keeping the peace and dealing with robbers and other anti-social elements. To help him in the police duties he had a number of Thanadars who were in charge of armed forces. The activities of the Foujdars and the Thanadars were confined to using military force for quelling rebellions and disturbances by bands of robbers. They did not investigate cases.In cities and large towns the chief of the city police was called Kotwal. His duties were to maintain peace; arrange for patrolling of the streets at night, and keep a watch for pick-pockets through his subordinates at public gatherings. In addition to what might be called regular police duties, he was also required to look after people in prison, hear the charges against them and punish those found guilty. The Kotvals were assisted by Naibs or deputies. Kotwal's orders were appealable to the district Kazi. The above system though well suited to the needs of a simple agrarian community could not sustain the stains of political disorder that followed in the wake of the disintegration of the Mughal Empire.”[1]Policing under British Rule“With the disintegration of the imperial authority of the Mughals, there was a complete breakdown of the police system and it was to this legacy that the East, India Company succeeded as the Diwan in 1765.Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General sought to remedy the defects by abolishing in 1781 the Foujdari system and vesting the judges of the Civil Courts with police functions. They were given powers to apprehend persons charged with a crime and a sizeable police establishment was placed directly under them for this purpose. They did not, however,' have the power to try such persons, as criminal administration still remained the responsibility of the Naib-Nazim and his officers. In rural areas, certain zamindars continued to discharge police functions concurrently with the judges of the Civil Courts.Regulation XXII of 1793: Under the said Regulation the police were placed under the exclusive control of East India Company officers, the zamindars being forbidden to maintain such forces. At Dacca, Murshidabad and Patna wards were formed, each under a Darogha, who worked under the authority of a Kotwal. The Kotwal, who was in charge of the whole city, superintended the work of the Darogha and the staff under them. The Judge-Magistrate remained in overall charge of police work in each district.In 1813, a Select Committee was appointed by the Court of Directors, which in its report observed that the Daroghas were not less corrupt than the Thanadars of the Zamindars and the forces under them were inadequate for the protection of the people. They insisted on the maintenance of the village police. Provisions were made for the maintenance of Choukidars in certain cities and later at Magistrate's headquarters. They were paid stipends contributed by the local residents. By Regulation XX of 1817 all the rules which had from time to time been enacted respecting the duties of Daroghas and other Indian officers of police were arranged under 34 sections. Under the said Regulation the appointment of all police officers was vested in the Magistrate. This Regulation remained almost intact till the enactment of the Police Act, 1861.”[2]Duplicity of British in Policing Philosophy in Britain and India“A criminal justice system can hope to succeed in delivering peace and order only in a “majority defenders of law” situation, that is, most of the citizens obey the law voluntarily. And it is the responsibility of the police to facilitate the achievement of this objective.Robert Peel, the father of modern policing, had this insight when he founded the London Metropolitan Police in 1829. Calling the police “citizens in uniform”, he urged them to work in close collaboration with the community and focus on crime prevention. This remains a go-to strategy as it makes citizens partners in crime prevention and is the best bet for creating a majority-defenders-of-law situation. It is another matter that the British in 1861 built a militaristic and repressive police in India to defend their predatory rule.”[3]Indian Police Act 1861“The system of police administration introduced by the Police Act,1861 failed for these among other reasons; a) the importance of police work had been under-estimated; b) the responsible duties had ordinarily been entrusted to untrained and ill-educated officers, recruited in the lowest ranks form the lower strata of the society;c) Supervision had been defective, owing to the failure to appoint even the staff contemplated by the law and to increase that staff with the growing necessities of the administration; d) the superiors officers of the department had been allowed from various causes to get out of the touch even with the people and out of touch even with their own responsibilities, had been weakened by a degree of interference never contemplated by the authors of the system.”[4](Do you not feel the situation is still the same after 158 years of the failure of Police Act 1861?)Indian Police Service 1951“In 1951 the All India Services Act (LXI of 1951) was enacted constituting an All India Service known as the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. Rules were framed regulating the recruitment, uniform and conditions of service, pay etc. of the members of the Indian Police Service.Historical Baggage of Policing in the States“A close look at the State level Police Administration will indicate that most of its problems originate from history, the legacies of which make it stagnant, disjointed, outmoded and dysfunctional. Torn between three lists of the VII Schedule, the tasks of policing remain shared, muddled and overlapping responsibility between the Union and the State governments. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs though not directly responsible for police jobs, virtually functions as Union Ministry for Police, entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining peace, security and order in the country. This robs the State Police Departments from their initiative in reorganizing the police administrations.“So much so that the basic Police Act of 1861 and the three All- India Penal Codes, namely, the Criminal Procedure Code of India, the Code of Civil Procedure and the: Indian Evidence Act, remain more or less changed since the days of Indian Mutiny.”[5]“India inherited a militaristic and repressive police force from the British. It has, by and large, persisted with the colonial crime-fighting model. Commentators attribute the system’s persistence to a resource crunch, vested interests, an indifferent academia not challenging the efficacy of police practices and the glamorisation of tough cops.”[6]“India's police have largely failed to evolve from the repressive forces they were designed to be under Britain's colonial regime, according to a new report by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch. "While 60 years later, much of India is in the process of rapid modernization, the police continue to use their old methods," the group said.”[7]“The 118-page report, "Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police," documents a range of human rights violations committed by police, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings.”[8]Organisational Challenges“Organisationally, the three tier structure of State, district and police stations seems quite sound and feasible in consonance with the police philosophy and working conditions obtained in the countryside. But, the physical conditions, actually available in terms of buildings, furniture, telephone, conveyance, office records, malkhanas, police lock-ups, living quarters at the out post and the police stations are absolutely far from satisfactory. The expectations of the common man from his police station have gone very high and the newly recruited police officers also find it demeaning to live and work under sub-human conditions.”“The sanctioned strength of the police across states was around 2.8 million in 2017 (the year with the latest available data) but only 1.9 million police officers were employed (a 30% vacancy rate). As a result, according to Mint’s calculations, there are only 144 police officers for every 100,000 citizens (the commonly used measure of police strength), making India’s police force one of the weakest in the world. India’s police-to-population ratio lags behind most countries and the United Nations-recommended ratio of 222.”[9]Structural ProblemsThe democratic character of the Indian Constitution does not get reflected in the organisational concept of the Indian Police.The political executive in the federal system in India with police as a State subject has asserted its executive character through the political influence of police power.The people of India who have been bred and brought up in the colonial hostility and official police violence during freedom struggle remain ignorant about the hazards, dilemmas and limitations of policing as a profession.’The political parties, the vernacular press, opinion of the political leaders, the mass media and voluntary organisations, have done very little to develop the required ethos which can contribute to develop an efficient and responsible Indian Police. ”[10]Lack of True and Focused Police Reforms“Central government did initiate the modernisation of the police force scheme in the 1970s. But instead of switching to problem-solving and community policing strategies as the US did, it kept investing in the crime-fighting strategy — motorised patrolling, quick reactions to calls for help and reactive investigation. It ignored the failure elsewhere of the fire-brigade model of reactive policing in curbing crime by itself. It apparently led to an uninterrupted trend of an increase in crime and street violence in India. The ever-increasing fear of crime is reflected in gated communities and the booming private security industry.There is an urgent need to embrace a hybrid of the community-oriented and crime-fighting policing strategies and to reinforce it with crime-mapping and trend analysis.This is the time to reinvent the role of constables, who constitute 86 per cent of the police, and transform them to problem-solvers.With 356 million people in the 10-24 years age group, a proactive police engaging an interconnected, volatile and youthful population through community policing programmes is perhaps the only hope for enduring peace and lasting order.”[11]“According to a 2018 survey of 15,562 respondents across 22 states on perceptions about policing, the Lokniti team at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) found that less than 25% of Indians trust the police highly (as compared to 54% for the army). A big reason for the distrust is that interactions with the police can be frustrating, time-consuming and costly.”[12]Role of Judiciary“It may not be in sync with best democratic practices, but almost all contemporary liberal democratic regimes have an assemblage of “exceptional” laws. Sometimes more so in the bastions of democracy, like in the US and India. Often referred to as “extraordinary” laws, such laws are designed to, and legitimised by, the persistence of extraordinary situations.Prima facie it seems like a fair proposition deriving its logic from the “necessary evil” argument – these laws may be monstrous in their implications, they may violate civil liberties, but are needed to deal with exceptional situations. The threat of threat becomes the raison d’etre for exceptional laws. Rather than a tool to moderate political antagonism, they serve to strengthen the repressive arm of the state.But there’s something deeply worrying about the sanction these laws carry, and the range of activities they routinely bear upon. Under vague anEdit d nebulous definitions of terror and unlawful activity, they often encompass a wide range of nonviolent political activity and suppress contrarian, dissenting ideological or political perspectives. They allow for detentions without a chargesheet, create strong presumptions against bail, admit in-custody confessions and tacitly sanction torture. Over the years, their victims have been many innocents, whose stories ought to bear upon the collective conscience of this nation.”[13]“Colonial-era police laws enable state and local politicians to interfere routinely in police operations, sometimes directing police officers to drop investigations against people with political connections, including known criminals, and to harass or file false charges against political opponents. These practices corrode public confidence.”“According to the latest available data, 30% of all cases filed in 2016 were pending for investigation by the end of the year. This combined with the pendency in the judiciary means securing justice in India can take a very long time. As in the case of the judiciary, pendency in the police is driven by a lack of resources.”[14]“In 2006, a landmark Supreme Court judgement mandated reform of police laws. But the central government and most state governments have either significantly or completely failed to implement the court's order, suggesting that officials have yet to accept the urgency of comprehensive police reform, including the need to hold police accountable for human rights violations.”[15]‘In July 2018 the Supreme Court once again reviewed the progress of States and UTs on this front. Police reforms include fixed tenures for Director Generals of Police (DGPs) and Superintendents of Police. Also, the DGPs should have a minimum residual service to ensure continuity and stability and avoid frequent leadership changes. Also 23 States have ignored guidelines on appointment of DGPs. As of today, 12 States have not implemented the separation of investigation and law and order wings.”[16]Unless the Supreme Court puts the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries in jail over contempt of its ruling of 2006 by making it mandatory rather than recommendatory, the Political Executive and Bureaucracy is not going to change and improve policing for the citizens. The Citizens as voters too should demand it as the bare minimum through the power of their vote.Footnotes[1] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10603/140535/5/05_chapter%25201.pdf[2] http://In 1813, a Select Committee was appointed by the Court ofDirectors, which in its report observed that the Daroghas were not lesscorrupt than the Thanadars of the Zamindars and the forces under themwere inadequate for the protection of the people. They insisted on themaintenance of the village police. Provisions were made for themaintenance of Choukidars in certain cities and later at Magistrate'sheadquarters. They were paid stipends contributed by the local residents.By Regulation XX of 1817 all the rules which had from time to timebeen enacted respecting the duties of Daroghas and other Indian officersof police were arranged under 34 sections. Under the said Regulation theappointment of all police officers was vested in the Magistrate. ThisRegulation remained almost intact till the enactment of the Police Act,1861[3] People police[4] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10603/140535/5/05_chapter%25201.pdf[5] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10603/140535/5/05_chapter%25201.pdf[6] People police[7] Indian police accused of torture[8] India: Overhaul Abusive, Failing Police System[9] India’s police force among the world’s weakest[10] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10603/140535/5/05_chapter%25201.pdf[11] People police[12] India’s police force among the world’s weakest[13] 'Extraordinary' Laws Are Becoming Central to the Politics of Repression in India[14] India’s police force among the world’s weakest[15] India: Overhaul Abusive, Failing Police System[16] Police reforms must be expedited

Off the top of my head—Well, well, this is a surprise isn’t it? And they said a wild-man demon from hell couldn’t be elected president. Little did they know.(Pause for rumpus.)Being an American is a great honor to me. Being elected as the chief executive of its service organization, the United States national government, is more a quandary.The United States central government has not done a good enough job for the American people. It has not lived up to the American society for most of its life. And this shortfall has become business as usual. It has to stop. But I am not capable of stopping it. The position of president does not provide sufficient power, and thank goodness. Congress has more power, but too many of its so-called representatives are in the employee of large donors and special interest lobbies, as I’ve noted on every stop of my campaign trail.As promised throughout, I plan an Era of Democracy. I am going to work to make the Republic of the US bow before democracy, which means bow before The People. This presidential administration will represent “The Age of The People,” We The People. My staff and I hope to expose every elected representative in central government who has failed to heed your clear and express will, who has not solicited your will when making their decisions and for not helping inform you on major issues affecting you.We have instructed our own party officials, as well as the opposition party, to call us on our like failures as also measured by the polls we jointly take, and carefully probe, of public advice. An informed public is the government’s responsibility as well as yours. And the information you need is from many sides, not just the partisan side now in power.We are going to reverse allegiances in this country, nodding the US flag to you, not having you stand and serenade it. Having bands play a new People’s Anthem to you, American society. The US State and central government are your social tools, invented and designed to serve you. And at least for our time here in office, you will be the boss, the government your pubic servants, as we are bid to the US Constitution. If this is a pipe dream, then we intend to make it come true.I will ask for campaign financing legislation in which each of the two of three major candidates qualifying receives equal funds for running their campaigns which can last for no longer than one month. This will be taken from a store of political donations from the public, which can not be earmarked for a particular candidate or party. Any shortfall in funds will be paid for out of general government funds. Any donation taken from any private donor will be treated as a federal bribe requiring prosecution for public corruption. Such corruption will be considered a high crime or treasonable offense relative to how egregious it is. No elected official will be allowed to serve more than eight years, or in the Senate, twelve.Realize that I am not empowered to create laws to this effect. Like you, I must rely on congress to do so. Thus far, they have not been able to pass such campaign financing reform nor term limits. But Americans wish it, as a conglomeration of surveys have shown for decades. And if you wish it, then your representative are bound to provide it. I will join with you in hounding them until they do.The US Constitution was written for and by a country used to monarchy. It used the model of a king and bicameral legislature found in Great Britain to fashion the presidency and congress. As such, it granted monarchical powers to both, which I will not use, even in the cause of campaign finance reform and term limits. For the office of president, these are Executive Order and Pardon powers, also the presidential veto. There is a need to have great miscarriages of justice in the courts reversed. But this power should not rest with one man, elected as a kind of temporary king in a limited monarchy. I will surrender this power to the court system to address or to congress.I also will work with congress to alter or skirt the veto power of presidents. Under the current system one man gets to cast a vote equal to hundreds of congresspeople elected by you as your representatives. That’s what it means to say that two-thirds of congress is needed to override a president’s veto. This is too much power for one man, too much of a check on congress, which acts, after all, as your will. The legislature, not the president, is the heart of a democratic government. While we can not change the constitution, we can work out ways in which congress and the president can agree to forego a need for vetoes being used, or on which the use of the veto must be recommended by a public survey.As promised, I am not going to take a cent in salary in this job but donate it to the poor. This addresses, through my individual share, the unjust inequality which has no place in our land of plenty. Due to it, our republic has become a de facto plutocracy. in which the rich rule. And I will fight with every bone in my body to promote greater economic equality during my term in office.Rather than merely raising taxes on the super wealthy .01%, we will make proposals for corporate legislation, where their power amounts to a governance structure and bring them, therefore under democratic guidelines. In a sense, this provides you an economic vote alongside your political one.For too long the US system has pretended that Americans could have a democratic system while allowing capitalist economy to gain political power without public accountability. This day has ended. Some will say I am trying to move the economy toward democratic or free-market socialism, where the word socialism is taken as a profanity. Actually what we are moving toward is a democratic free market.Few would dare advance the claim that democracy and freedom don’t mix. And we intend to mix them just right, fulfilling the sixth purpose of a national government in the constitution, “advancing the social welfare.” This will be perhaps our most difficult task, where most mistakes are made. But it is worth doing. We will not run the economy from some high seat in federal government, that is state socialism which inevitably leads to tyranny. Rather we will stimulate input here and there which promote freedom in the direction of common social ends. Labor unions will be one sort of action, the grass-root non-profit sector another, consumer unions and movements another, and the -so-called new economy movement another still.Business howls when it sees government in any way trying to regulate it, to bring it in line with social principles. Under capitalism that is supposed to happen by accident where society gets but a trickle. What a basis on which to place the welfare of our entire society. Well now is the time to howl, let’s hear it. Speak out against democracy and reveal who you really are.We will not be the administration of regulation. We do not intend to act as a government to impose control as I have just noted. Rather we are going to let American society do so, as consumers, employees and business-people themselves. How? Alongside the above initiatives we will use the curricula of our educational system. (I did not become a professor for nothing.)A new curriculum will be proposed for all public schools in political-economics. It will focus on personal finance first. But it also will include consumer savvy and responsibility, advertising ethics, business management structures, employee ownership and horizontal management (as opposed to the tradition authoritarian management business presently howls for). It will also include an intro to micro and macro economics, and one on international economics. An American child should not graduate from high school, not understanding an employment contract or apartment lease, not understanding how to budget on a small salary, nor save and invest. Investment, the stock and real estate markets should not only be how the rich make money, they should be part of how the American public as a whole does. And Americans should know what they are doing when they access this income source.Our administration hopes to stimulate business and especially entrepreneurship as never before to aid American prosperity. But it will be by equipping the American society with business expertise and literacy, with the ability to work and manage production so that it serves our society and serves our democracy. Once educated, let the American employees, managers and consumers guide the business sector—the real Public of this country. If it turns out that a small group of business-people decide to sacrifice, not pursue democracy, so be it. They will be met by a consumer public and employee public who will exert its contrary will.Two critical thinking foci will be included in this curriculum. The first concerns large corporations engaging in political capture of the US government. The second will concern the ongoing crimes of US economic and military imperialism. Americans have heard in recent times about the disgraceful way that the US has supported dictatorships abroad. Now they are in for a much more eye-opening account of how our domestic plenty has been achieved by even more disgraceful exploitation of in some cases the poorest countries on earth, by extracting their minerals without compensation to speak of.This practice, not some ideological or religious difference, is what has earned the US enemies abroad. It has earned Americans deadly enemies despite our society having nothing against these peoples. And it has put youthful Americans on the field of battle, in harms way, to promote the interests of US mega-corporations. Here the US has not only under-served, but radically disserved America. We are a fair and generous people. Our international political-economy has not kept up. And this age-old pattern must be reversed.Our administration can only hope to start that reversal, that is how entrenched it is in the world of US corporate practice and international finance. If we wish to be a better country, a beacon to the world of freedom, hard work and prosperity, this is a good place to start. We do not wish to see the military-industrial complex profit at the expense of American lives or innocents abroadA second educational change in America comes in radically revising the history curriculum. The emphasis in American history will be on how to take up the legacy of early Americans in being informed and able citizens, more, informed and age fellow-Americans. Rather than studying founding fathers as if they had some kind of secret know-how we can never gain, We The People will practice gaining it—understanding democracy, pushing the causes of democracy in the face of plutocracy and political systems generally.A severe problem with democracy, never addressed, is that even an informed public can be ideologically biased and partisan, lacking the good judgment to make wise choices. Our new critical thinking curriculum will work specifically on these matters of recognizing and guarding against bias, prejudice and bigotry—resisting partisanship—and making good, not merely informed choices together. It will be turned on itself, raising the prospect that it is state propaganda and indoctrination. The Education Dept will take feedback on whether and where it should be altered to avoid that.Obviously one focus of such an anti-prejudice program will be to combat social bigotry and unjust discrimination. It is astounding that racism has lasted this long in America, only to be accompanied by new forms of social prejudice against the LGBTQ community, against immigrants and people of different religions from majority society.More than most accused of being progressive, I am sympathetic to traditionalism. I am sympathetic to members of our culture not used to people who are not of standard white-Christian stock. They hear different languages being spoken, as they’ve never heard before, by people with whom they can not communicate, of different colors and clothing and other customs strange and unpleasant to them. As with these new sub-cultures, you should be able to preserve your sub-culture as well. You should be respected when expressing pride in it. But you can not stop change or progress in America generally at the expense of those who are different.We have always been a society of immigrants, as pointed out endlessly in American society. My grandparents came from Italy and the Ukraine. They were hated, referred to as animals, then accepted. In a democratic society, we leave out the hated and referred to as animals part. We outlaw its harmful expression in fact as hate crime. Justice and toleration are cornerstones of any democracy and of our Constitution to boot.In these curricula, a great deal of emphasis will be placed on how to negotiate with others in our society, seeking consensus. This is the center of democratic process, not having your say as a kind of spouting your personal opinions, then being ignored by officials. This curriculum equips Americans with enhanced ability that counts, especially on the municipal level, but also o the state and national level.Of course these are only proposed curricula, offered by our Department of Education. Different US states have major control over certain features of public school curricula. And if course our Department will negotiate with them on these curricular proposals. But since these changes are clearly for the sake of American democracy, we will rally the national public to support them even where states resist, promoting partisan political positions.Let me call out the Texas state board of education which for some reason has an undue influence over the adoption of history books in public school courses. Its own public has been shown highly traditionalist and conservative in this area, which is inappropriate for democratic governance. Being bi-partisan goes without saying in a democracy. And you will notice that I have won on a supposedly unwinnable bi-partisan ticket. This also Americans in general have wished and sought and begged for, while government went its own partisan way.We hope to influence the Texas Board and other state boards to become more bi-partisan and to at least consider experimenting with a pro-democracy approach. Members of this board have explicitly attacked critical thinking approaches as causing disrespect for authority. As I mentioned over and over again while campaigning, these is a vast difference between legitimate democratic society and anti-democratic authoritarianism. And we must be sure that our public school curriculum highlights that distinction. On one side democracy, the other tyranny.Under a new era of democracy, the public will be consulted as much as possible regarding what it wishes its public servants to do. We few in office need you to guide us. We need to negotiate with you. And as we try to qualify ourselves to hold office, we wish you to qualify yourself to be our leaders. Public school was designed originally for this purpose by Thomas Jefferson. It hopefully will return in part to this purpose again, at least for the trial period of my presidency.In this vein, let us consider the president’s annual State of the Union Address in he promotes his great and wonderful accomplishments and everyone applauds, at least on his side of the aisle. This will cease. I cannot claim credit for achievements accomplished on the shoulders of many. More, my administration’s efforts will show flaws and shortfalls. And we intend to broadcast these far and wide, through the same critical thinking advocated in school system. You will hear pros and cons. This will enable the public will get a more accurate picture of how you are being served, and not served.Accounts of our faults will be drawn from opposition public policy think tanks as well as those friendly to us but critical on major points. This critical information will help you when deciding on whether my administration should continue after its first term or whether another would seem more promising.As stated often during my campaign, I do not believe anyone can perform the job of president competently any longer. It is too difficult, the issues too complex. I did not run on the ticket of being qualified, but only of likely being less incompetent than alternatives. But I will try my best to appoint the best candidates to help me—those who can to fill the job description and mission of each major agency in my administration.During the confirmation process congress will be asked to speak pointedly to the match between qualifications and job requirements as you will be in an online survey. This is a shift from partisan support and attack. If I had my druthers I would submit these resumes to you more officially and have you elect the would-be appointee from a shortlist of candidates. Cabinet officials do important jobs on their own and should be accountable directly to the people, not me.In this proposed era of democracy, my hope is to shift more of the governing power in our federated system back to the public of each state so that it has more control over local affairs. This will mean municipal government first, then state government. The central government will engage primarily in disputes among the state or where we are dealing with a common social good. Group assistance will also be available form the national guard for any states’ residence to move elsewhere if they find the policies of their state inimical to their principles. Under this system of federated government, Americans will be able to choose which version of democratic government they wish.You know the rest of my policies from the submission of my policy proposals made available to you on line. I plan to carry out each major campaign promise in the areas noted or resign. My resignation is on my desk at the moment already signed as I promised. First priorities first.As also promised, my first act will be to suggest a halving of our over-inflated military budget under what I term the Spirit of Eisenhower provision. Since this budget represents almost half of the entire US budget, the funds set free will be used first, to radically upgrade Veteran’s benefits and the VA hospital system, then to re-fund Social Security and provide our Medicare for All Health System. This was the primary basis on which I asked you to vote for or against me, and so it will be my first priority.Your national government owes you at least this much, health security, and income security (if meager) in old age. We do not intend to let large health insurance and pharmaceutical companies continue to reap huge profits at the expense of your suffering. Having CEOs comment that curing people is a bad business model—it means they won’t need to buy expensive treatments any longer—is exactly how the profit motive should work in capitalist businesses unconcerned with the social good. It is exactly how they no longer will be able to think. Democracy is for the social good.For those who think this military budge cutback will make the US vulnerable to attack, please consult the case I made for the Spirit of Eisenhower Provision on line where it has been for more than a year. Also consult the joint declaration of NATO allies expressing their belief that we would still have the capability to act swiftly and decisively with them in fending off any attack on any ally involved.There is a problem with democracy that the US has left unsolved for its entire history. This is the problem of majority rule or de facto majority tyranny. A huge portion of Americans did not elect me, did not opt for my policy suggestions. I know that some Americans are incensed by the idea that they would not pledge allegiance to the state, rather than their fellow Americans, the People, and that the flag would be lowered to them, rather than them serenading it. This is why I will leave this option in place. They wish it and so they get it.There are many policies that are not in direct conflict with others in America. And as a result, we will always try to assure that where opposition voters were not in the majority, they get the policies they wished anyway.For far too long presidents have claimed to be presidents of all the people, representing all of them—hollow claims. In this administration these will be specific promises on each major policy proposed. More, where some complementary package or negotiated package can not be achieved, providing the minority proportional representation, a turn-taking procedure will be used. That is, the policy I favor will be in place for a certain number of years, and then the policy I do not favor will go into effect for a shorter time. This of course must be worked out with Congress. They have the final say. But you know where my efforts will be, and those of you in the minority can bolster them form your enhanced position as citizens.This approach also was explained in my campaign literature, which provides detailed examples. Turn-taking and proportional representation are the only way to assure that every voter in America get their say. More important, it assures that they are heeded. Majority rule assures that they are not. Being heeded represents self-determination. Being able to spout off does not. Under this less-majoritarian system, a divided social will is still dictating the People’s wishes to the government serving them, and is actually being served.Some critics have called this approach a recipe for chaos. A better name for it is representative democracy, which the US government has failed to provide Americans since 1887. All I ask is that the government give democracy a chance, and American Society’s dream of democracy as well. To my fellow-Americans I plead that you step up and take a lead. “Where the people lead, the leaders will follow.” I believe this saying to the bottom of my soul.As a candidate for this office, I made clear that I am all about policy, all about political and economic reality. The president is not the leader of society. Americans have their own leaders. Thus it is not my place to provide the glowing vision that presidents typically offer in their inaugural addresses. But it is crucial indeed that We The People have such a vision and a story—in fact several. It is crucial that the central government share it, adhere to it, pursue it alongside.Therefore, I have called on several leading Americans to present these visions. You are aware of this effort from the Vision Survey made available to you since my election. These are in no way exclusive of your vision, if you do not hear it presented here, or in fact contradicted. Leadership, when brought closer to the actual American public, need not be centralized—one size fits all. This is simply the best sampling we could find, relative to the tenets of a democratic society.Paula?….(Wow does THIS need editing—first draft)

My favorite answer to this question are programs like Eugene Oregon's CAHOOTS program that started in 1989. Its operated under Eugene Police Department.This program is slowly expanding because various cities throughout the country have called on them.Chris Pietsch/The Register-GuardEugene Police officer Bo Rankin talking with White Bird Clinic coordinator Ben Brubaker and CAHOOTS emergency crisis worker Matt Eads, Eugene, Oregon, October 2019CAHOOTS workers help an unidentified individual into the back of their van, who requested assistance finding shelter.CAHOOTS – White Bird ClinicWhite Bird ClinicMENUCAHOOTSSEPTEMBER 29, 2020What is CAHOOTS?31 years ago the City of Eugene, Oregon developed an innovative community-based public safety system to provide mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. White Bird Clinic launched CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) as a community policing initiative in 1989.The CAHOOTS model has been in the spotlight recently as our nation struggles to reimagine public safety. The program mobilizes two-person teams consisting of a medic (a nurse, paramedic, or EMT) and a crisis worker who has substantial training and experience in the mental health field. The CAHOOTS teams deal with a wide range of mental health-related crises, including conflict resolution, welfare checks, substance abuse, suicide threats, and more, relying on trauma-informed de-escalation and harm reduction techniques. CAHOOTS staff are not law enforcement officers and do not carry weapons; their training and experience are the tools they use to ensure a non-violent resolution of crisis situations. They also handle non-emergent medical issues, avoiding costly ambulance transport and emergency room treatment.A November 2016 study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine estimated that 20% to 50% of fatal encounters with law enforcement involved an individual with a mental illness. The CAHOOTS model demonstrates that these fatal encounters are not inevitable. Last year, out of a total of roughly 24,000 CAHOOTS calls, police backup was requested only 150 times.The cost savings are considerable. The CAHOOTS program budget is about $2.1 million annually, while the combined annual budgets for the Eugene and Springfield police departments are $90 million. In 2017, the CAHOOTS teams answered 17% of the Eugene Police Department’s overall call volume. The program saves the city of Eugene an estimated $8.5 million in public safety spending annually.CAHOOTS calls come to Eugene’s 911 system or the police non-emergency number. Dispatchers are trained to recognize non-violent situations with a behavioral health component and route those calls to CAHOOTS. A team will respond, assess the situation and provide immediate stabilization in case of urgent medical need or psychological crisis, assessment, information, referral, advocacy, and, when warranted, transportation to the next step in treatment.White Bird’s CAHOOTS provides consulting and strategic guidance to communities across the nation that are seeking to replicate CAHOOTS’ model. Contact us if you are interested in our consultation services program.Also See:CAHOOTS info pageCAHOOTS in the NewsSEPTEMBER 5, 2020CNN features CAHOOTS Police AlternativeBy Scottie Andrew, CNN, July 5, 2020Around 30 years ago, a town in Oregon retrofitted an old van, staffed it with young medics and mental health counselors and sent them out to respond to the kinds of 911 calls that wouldn’t necessarily require police intervention.In the town of 172,000, they were the first responders for mental health crises, homelessness, substance abuse, threats of suicide — the problems for which there are no easy fixes. The problems that, in the hands of police, have often turned violent.Today, the program, called CAHOOTS, has three vans, more than double the number of staffers and the attention of a country in crisis.CAHOOTS is already doing what police reform advocates say is necessary to fundamentally change the US criminal justice system — pass off some responsibilities to unarmed civilians.Read more…AUGUST 4, 2020Senator Wyden to introduce the CAHOOTS ActU.S. Sen. Ron Wyden announced plans to introduce a bill in the U.S. Senate aimed at bringing CAHOOTS response model mental health services to cities and towns across the nation through increased Medicaid funding.“It’s long past time to re-imagine policing in ways that reduce violence and structural racism, and health care can play a key role in that effort,” Wyden said. “Oregon has a proven model in the CAHOOTS program, and I want other states and communities to have federal resources to pursue similar approaches. Americans struggling with mental illness don’t always require law enforcement to be dispatched when they are experiencing a crisis – CAHOOTS is proof positive there is another way.”“For individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, the assistance of trained health care and social workers is more effective than interventions from law enforcement in deescalating the situation and helping to connect those individuals with vital services to address the problems that led to the crisis,” said Cortez Masto. “I’m proud to support legislation that will provide Nevada and states across the country with additional Medicaid funding to help them set up mobile crisis teams that have a proven track-record of providing effective, trauma-informed care to those in need.”“We hope that the CAHOOTS model pioneered by White Bird Clinic in Eugene, OR can help communities across the United States develop public safety systems that align with their values,” said Chris Hecht, Executive Coordinator of White Bird Clinic. “Dispatching medical and behavioral health professionals to care for community members in crisis is a proven way to improve outcomes, combat racism, and avoid violence. We thank Senator Wyden for this legislation because we are eager to share a model that has succeeded in our community for 31 years.”The bill, the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) Act, grants states enhanced federal Medicaid funding (a 95% federal match) for three years to provide community-based mobile crisis services to individuals experiencing a mental health or SUD crisis. It also provides $25 million for planning grants to states to help establish or build out mobile crisis programs.The bill is part of Wyden’s agenda to address a persistent lack of access to mental health care for too many Americans. He is also pursuing legislation to support access to wraparound services that help individuals after the initial crisis response.A one page summary of the bill can be found here. Legislative text can be found here.parked cahoots vanJULY 25, 2020Rep. Rashida Tlaib: The Case for an Emergency Responder Corpsby Rashida Tlaib Apr 23, 2020 in “The Appeal”What would an Emergency First Responders Corps look like?“The most important aspect of the Emergency First Responder Corps is that it must be civilian and designed to help people. The idea isn’t novel — it is something neighbors have been doing for centuries, and the time is now to take comprehensive approach to formalizing it to help our most vulnerable communities.A good model of this exists in Eugene, Oregon, CAHOOTS — Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets — has worked for decades to help people in crisis. They deal with those who are suicidal, houseless, infirm, or just having trouble getting the basics they need to survive. It’s fully integrated into the local service community. And they are effective. In 2018, CAHOOTS responded to 24,000 calls. CAHOOTS and the White Bird Clinic were recently awarded federal funding to expand telemedicine access during the current pandemic.”Read More…The Briefing: a new vision for first responders during the COVID-19 pandemicCAHOOTS program coordinator Tim Black joined Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and our self-described “biggest fan of CAHOOTS in the Rockies” Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod to discuss the CAHOOTS model and why there is a need for a behavioral health branch of public safety in communities across the nation.JULY 15, 2020Citing CAHOOTS as a Model for ReformSenator Ron Wyden will meet with White Bird CAHOOTS staff at CAHOOTS headquarters at 970 W 7th Ave in Eugene to discuss how this groundbreaking program can be a model for a national policing reform package and how Congress can best support the work. “The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 takes a vital first step toward accountability, and I am all in with pressing forward to achieve this legislation’s urgently needed re-focus of resources and policies,” said Sen. Wyden. Sen. Wyden co-sponsored the legislation, which would hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement and build trust between law enforcement and communities in Oregon and nationwide.31 years ago White Bird Clinic launched CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) as a community policing initiative to provide mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. CAHOOTS offers compassionate, effective, timely care while diverting a considerable portion of the public safety workload, conserving police and fire department capacity. In 2019, CAHOOTS handled 17% of the Eugene Police Department’s calls. In 2017, police officers nationally spent 21% of their time responding to or transporting people with mental illness.Dispatching appropriate responders for each unique situation is essential to ensuring the best outcome. CAHOOTS focuses exclusively on meeting the medical and mental health needs of the community, making it more appropriate, economical, and effective than traditional models involving agencies with a much larger scope of responsibility.Police officers and fire fighters receive training in a broad set of skills, making their deployment to non-emergent situations unnecessarily costly. The CAHOOTS model also ensures that health and behavioral health care are integrated from the onset of intervention and treatment, adding to the efficacy and economy of the model.White Bird’s CAHOOTS program has attracted notice from international news media as communities across the nation and around the world confront the need to reimagine public safety to ensure that it equitably serves human beings of all races and ethnicities.CAHOOTS is providing strategic guidance and training to assist communities in developing innovative public safety systems that align with their values.In 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene, OR. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 10 programs, 220 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers each year.DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE (PDF)JULY 3, 2020Community-Based Emergency First Responders: ExplainedIn The Appeal‘s Explainer series, Justice Collaborative lawyers, journalists, and other legal experts help unpack some of the most complicated issues in the criminal justice system.Co-authors Tim Black, CAHOOTS Operations Coordinator, and Patrisse Cullors, Artist and Activist, “break down the problems behind the headlines—like bail, civil asset forfeiture, or the Brady doctrine—so that everyone can understand them. Wherever possible, we try to utilize the stories of those affected by the criminal justice system to show how these laws and principles should work, and how they often fail.”Continue to articleJUNE 14, 2020Racism is a Public Health CrisisA Statement from CAHOOTSWritten by Ebony MorganCAHOOTS Crisis InterventionCommunications TeamCahoots has been operating as a mobile crisis intervention program in Eugene since 1989. We respond in teams of two with a medic and trained crisis worker, handling 20% of the 911 calls in our area last year. This is a responsibility we take extremely seriously, and we feel privileged to do this work.Across the nation, communities are demanding that elected leaders defund police, reallocate resources, and re-evaluate current approaches to public safety. As the first program of our kind, we are in a unique position to share our experience and knowledge with other cities that are now considering alternatives to policing. We are humbled by this and have become acutely aware of our privileged position within a system designed to oppress.At our roots, Cahoots is innovative, forward-thinking, and dedicated to serving marginalized populations. Despite this, we are not immune to the effects of systemic racism and if we are going to lead by example, we must first do the work internally. We take responsibility for our past silence, and we commit to being advocates for change. We are actively seeking out, evaluating, and eradicating the ways that white supremacy exists within our structure and we encourage other organizations to do the same.Cahoots proudly stands with Black Lives Matter. We believe it is not enough simply to disapprove of racism. Rather, we assert that individuals, organizations, communities, and the nation as a whole have a responsibility to be anti-racist. We will speak up when we see power inequities. We will amplify oppressed voices. We will continue to educate ourselves. We will not shy away from any aforementioned commitments due to potential risks. We will reflect regularly and welcome feedback as we learn to use our privilege constructively.We are appalled by the lynching of George Floyd, aware that he was not the first nor the last to die a preventable death due to the color of his skin. Police brutality is not an isolated issue. It is a symptom of the broader toxic culture of white supremacy that was woven into the fiber of this nation as we know it during its inception.Racism is a public health crisis. For the sake of health equity, we have a responsibility to dismantle systems of oppression. This will take a lot of effort and we will have to be intentional about addressing racism’s effects on the social determinants of health. We must begin this work immediately.JUNE 13, 2020LA Times looks to Northwest cities to reimagine law enforcementBy RICHARD READSEATTLE BUREAU CHIEFLos Angeles TimesJUNE 12, 2020“Across the nation, political leaders are struggling to strike a balance between righting injustices in ways that might mollify those protesting racism and brutality while at the same time maintaining public safety. Some of the more original experiments in reimagining policing are unfolding in the Pacific Northwest…teams in Eugene handled 18% of the 133,000 calls to 911 last year, requesting police backup only 150 times, said Chris Hecht, executive coordinator of White Bird Clinic, which runs the operation called Cahoots. The program, short for Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, operated on a $2-million budget last year that he said saved the Eugene-Springfield, Ore., area about $14 million in costs of ambulance transport and emergency room care.Hecht said that the teams, in place for three decades, can arrive at the scene of a homeless person experiencing a physical or mental health crisis, defuse the situation and prevent harm in ways that police officers are neither trained nor equipped to do.“The folks we’re working with often have a history of really unfortunate interactions with police, hospitals or other institutions,” Hecht said. “When a couple of people step out of one of our vans wearing jeans and hoodies, just right there we have a leg up on our colleagues in public safety.”Read more…JUNE 12, 2020Examples Of Reimagining Police Departments That Show Promise – NPR Morning EditionNPR Morning Edition took a look at effective alternatives to police response that keep people out of jails and emergency rooms. Tim Black from CAHOOTS is featured at about 7:08.JUNE 10, 2020CAHOOTS featured on All Things ConsideredNPR’s Ari Shapiro talked with crisis workers Benjamin Brubaker and Ebony Morgan at White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Ore., about their Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets program as an alternative to police intervention. Read the transcript…JUNE 9, 2020The National Asks “What could defunding the police look like?”The National, a nightly news program from Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, interviewed Tim Black and Ebony Morgan from CAHOOTS about our alternative model to police intervention for crisis response.JUNE 8, 2020Cities Ask if It’s Time to Defund Police and ‘Reimagine’ Public Safety’from the New York Times, June 5, 2020“One model that members of the Minneapolis City Council cite is Cahoots, a nonprofit mobile crisis intervention program that has handled mental health calls in Eugene, OR since 1989.CAHOOTS employees responded to more than 24,000 calls for service last year — about 20 percent of the area’s 911 calls — on a budget of about $2 million, probably far less than what it would cost the Police Department to do the work, said coordinator Tim Black.“There’s a strong argument to be made from a fiscally conservative perspective,” Mr. Black said. “Public safety institutions generally have these massive budgets and there’s questions about what they are doing.”Read more…OCTOBER 23, 2019CAHOOTS Mobile Mental Health Intervention Program In The NewsWhite Bird’s CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) program continues to make headlines. CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell correspondent Omar Villafranca went on a ride-along with CAHOOTS to see them at work and learn why the program is being considered by cities across the country.NBC News featured the team’s approach in their feature “Taking police officers out of mental health-related 911 rescues.”Denver police officials said they are considering the model as an option to push beyond their existing co-responder program. New York City is looking to the program as “a model for non-police response to non-criminal emergencies.”Salem nonprofits are looking at the model for mobile crisis response. “CAHOOTS gets 2 percent of the police budget, but with that 2 percent they handle 17 percent of public safety calls,” said Ashley Hamilton, who’s helping spearhead the idea.Rogue Valley law enforcement, mental health professionals and advocates, elected officials and other concerned community members gathered at the Medford Police Department to hear Tim Black talk via Skype about the program in September. In November, city commissioners are expected to discuss how the program would work in Portland.The power of White Bird’s CAHOOTS program lies in its community relationships and the ability of first responders to simply ask, ‘How can I support you today?’ White Bird Clinic is proud to be a part of spreading this type of response across Oregon and the rest of the United States.Read our recent mentions in the news…tim in californiaJUNE 25, 2019Mental Health First Responders Visit OaklandWhite Bird Clinic’s CAHOOTS program is meeting with stakeholders to share an innovative model for mobile crisis intervention that would otherwise be handled by public safety or emergency medical response.OAKLAND, CA – White Bird Clinic of Eugene, OR has developed an innovative public/private partnership delivering crisis and community health first response effectively and at significant cost savings. For thirty years, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has been providing mobile crisis intervention 24/7, dispatched through the EMS non-emergency system. This week, members of CAHOOTS are in Oakland to meet with the Mayor, the Coalition for Police Accountability, and other community stakeholders to discuss implementing the innovative model locally.Each CAHOOTS team consists of a medic (a nurse or an EMT) with a crisis worker who has substantial training and experience in the mental health field. The team provides behavioral health first response/responders, immediate stabilization in case of urgent medical need or psychological crisis, assessment, information, referral, advocacy and, when warranted, transportation to the next step in treatment.White Bird Clinic started CAHOOTS in 1989 in partnership with the Eugene Police Department as a community policing initiative. CAHOOTS offers compassionate, effective, timely care while diverting a considerable portion of the public safety workload, freeing the police and fire departments to respond to the highest priority calls. CAHOOTS handles 17% of the Eugene Police Department’s non-emergency calls. In 2017, police officers nationally spent 21% of their time responding to or transporting people with mental illness.CAHOOTS focuses exclusively on meeting the medical and mental health needs of the community, making it both more economical and more effective than traditional models involving agencies with a larger scope of responsibility. Police officers and firefighters receive comprehensive training in a broad set of skills, making their deployment to non-emergent situations unnecessarily costly. The CAHOOTS model also ensures that health and behavior health care are integrated from the onset of intervention and treatment, adding to the efficacy and economy of the model.White Bird’s CAHOOTS program has attracted notice, from national news media as well as from communities across the country. The Wall Street Journal’s November 24th article When Mental- Health Experts, Not Police, Are the First Responders showcased CAHOOTS as an innovative model for reducing the risk of violent civilian/police encounters. Communities from California to New York have asked for strategic guidance and training so they can replicate CAHOOTS’ success.Currently, CAHOOTS is working with the following communities:Olympia, WAPortland, ORDenver, CONew York, NYIndianapolis, INRoseburg, ORIn 1969, a group of student activists and concerned practitioners came together to provide crisis services and free medical care for counter-culture youth in Eugene, OR. Having grown continuously since then, today White Bird Clinic has 10 programs, 220 staff members, and more than 400 volunteers each year. White Bird Clinic is a collective environment organized to empower people to gain control of their social, emotional, and physical well-being through direct service, education, and community.The mission of the Coalition for Police Accountability is to advocate for accountability of the Oakland Police Department to the community so that the Oakland Police Department operates with equitable, just, constitutional, transparent policies and practices that reflect the values and engender the trust of the community.MARCH 19, 2019CAHOOTS Model Featured in Street Roots Newspaper article “Rethinking our first response”Kaia Sands, Executive Director of Street Roots, a Portland newspaper that creates income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty through media that is a catalyst for individual and social change, visited White Bird Clinic’s mobile crisis support program, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) this month.In 2019, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Police Chief Danielle Outlaw and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s staff have all come to Eugene to learn about the CAHOOTS model response to non-criminal matters resulting from homelessness. Kaia joined our crisis worker and medic team for a shift and shared her story, available in PDF for download here with permission.Street Roots visit to CAHOOTS helped to inform their plan for a Portland Street Response team. This would be a non-law enforcement system of six well-marked mobile response vans teamed with a specially-trained firefighter-EMT and peer support specialist dispatched through both 911 and nonemergency channels. Street Roots explores how these issues are being responded to in Portland and Eugene and how we can build a better system. Read more (PDF)…NOVEMBER 30, 2018When Mental-Health Experts, Not Police, Are the First RespondersThe Wall Street Journal featured CAHOOTS as a model for reducing risk of violence in a November 24, 2018 article by Zusha Elinson.It is included below and as a PDF with permission from the publisher.NOVEMBER 2, 2018CAHOOTS and White Bird Clinic Recognized as “Best Program for the Homeless”We are happy to announce that we received both first and second place recognition for “Best Program for the Homeless” in Eugene Weekly‘s annual 2018 Best of Eugene. CAHOOTS took first place and White Bird Clinic took second. Read more…SEPTEMBER 24, 2018Opiate Overdose ResponseThis past weekend represented an unusually high number of heroin and other opiate overdoses in the Eugene/Springfield area, but these overdoses have been in keeping with recently observed trends. There have been two distinct patterns of heroin and other opiate related overdoses occurring with increased frequency: poly-substance OD’s and fentanyl contaminated OD’s:Poly-substance overdoses present a unique frustration to first-responders because they generally combine opiates, alcohol, and other substances often including benzodiazopenes or other prescription pharmaceuticals, which requires field stabilization and hospital treatment.Fentanyl contamination has been detected in various street drugs and counterfeit prescription medications in the Pacific Northwest, and has been particularly common locally in a strain of heroin that has been encountered by users and first responders in recent weeks.Lane Co. EMS, EPD, SPD, and CAHOOTS all carry the opiate overdose reversing medication Naloxone, commonly referred to by its trade name, Narcan. Naloxone is administered to treat overdose patients presenting with respiratory distress caused by the overdose, the medication enters the respiratory center of the brain stem and flushes neural synapses by out-competing the opiates present in the blood stream to to temporarily reverse respiratory inhibition; for patients whose breathing has ceased Naloxone is frequently administered along with CPR.CAHOOTS, specifically, has not experienced a significant increase in overdose responses, largely because the increased public awareness of the opiate crisis has increased the aggressiveness of EMS and law enforcement responses to these emergencies. White Bird’s main clinic staff including the Crisis Team and Front Rooms/Reception staff have, on the other hand, reported a significant increase in interventions this year, with three incidents of Naloxone and CPR administration in the past 2 months. White Bird has begun the process of standardizing Naloxone training for all staff in addition to First Aid and CPR requirements.Locally, the increased frequency of opiate overdoses has not been accompanied by a proportionate increase in overdose deaths. Increased public awareness has led to increased public involvement, with bystander-administered Naloxone and CPR saving brain tissue and lives prior to professional responders arriving on scene, and with increased awareness of Oregon’s Good Samaritan Law amongst drug users reducing the fear and stigma associated with calling 911 to seek assistance in an emergency.The lives saved have demonstrated the benefits of harm reduction policies:Public health education and outreach efforts increase awareness of the situation, increasing the likelihood of an overdose being recognized and treated.Good Samaritan Laws provide bystanders who interact with law enforcement temporary respite from prosecution, decreasing the likelihood of an overdose patient being abandoned.Broad availability of Naloxone—it is available over-the-counter at most pharmacies free of charge for individuals covered by private insurance or OHP and is also available free of charge along with training through HIV Alliance—increases the likelihood of the medication being available in the event of an emergency.Bystander education including CPR training for community groups and Naloxone administration training for users, their peers, families, and those who work with them facilitates rapid overdose intervention.Aggressive EMS and police responses to overdoses due to their increased public profile decreases the likelihood of overdose patients fleeing the scene of their resuscitation, only to cease breathing again due to lack of follow-up care.The Eugene HIV Alliance, through their syringe exchange program, has made the injectable form of Narcan available. It also provides training to individuals and groups on how to administer it.The syringe exchange is held five days a week at different locations, and the service is free.SEPTEMBER 19, 2018Eugene Out of the Darkness Community WalkWhen you walk in the Out of the Darkness Walks, you join the effort with hundreds of thousands of people to raise awareness and funds that allow the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to invest in new research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, and support survivors of suicide loss.CAHOOTS will be tabling and answering questions about what services we provide and how to access them. We will also be facilitating a safe space for anyone struggling with emotions in reference to the event.Event DetailsWalk Date: 09/30/2018Walk Location: Alton Baker Park – Eugene, ORCheck-in/Registration Time: 09/30/2018 at 10:00 amWalk Begins: 11:00 amWalk Ends: 1:00 pmFor more information, please contact:Contact Name: Sara ScofieldContact Phone: 541-513-5937Contact Email: [email protected] registration closes at noon (local time) the Friday before the walk. However, anyone who would like to participate can register in person at the walk from the time check-in begins until the walk starts. Registration is free and open to the public. Walk donations are accepted until December 31st.MAY 24, 2018CAHOOTS Receives EPD 2018 Partnership AwardCongratulations to CAHOOTS medic and crisis workers Rose Fenwick and Kimber Hawes, who were honored at a ceremony yesterday by the Eugene Police Department with the 2018 Partnership Award! Thank you for your care and compassion in serving our community.APRIL 11, 2018CAHOOTS Receives 2018 Excellence in Public Health AwardOn April 10th, CAHOOTS was selected by the Lane County Board of Commissioners as a recipient of the 2018 Excellence in Public Health Award. The award was presented during the Commissioners’ meeting to recognize the CAHOOTS team’s work in the field as behavioral health first responders, as well as their efforts in outreach, training, education, and support for individuals and groups throughout the area.FEBRUARY 5, 2018White Bird Crisis Response at Academy of Arts and Academics in SpringfieldFollowing recent events at the Academy of Arts and Academics in Springfield, counselors from CAHOOTS and White Bird Clinic’s Crisis office responded to the school to provide grief and loss counseling to students, staff, and their families. An extension of the weekly Mobile Mental Health Resource Clinic already staffed by members of the CAHOOTS team, these counselors facilitated both individual and group counseling and will continue to work with A3 and the Springfield School District to support everyone affected by this tragedy.CAHOOTS mobile crisis counseling services are available in Springfield 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can be requested via Springfield Police non-emergency dispatch at (541)726-3714.Additional crisis support is also available 24/7 by phone at (541)687-4000, or walk-in at White Bird’s Crisis clinic, 341 E. 12th Ave in Eugene.JANUARY 5, 2018Helping People in Crisis: Register-Guard EditoralThe CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) program began in Eugene in 1989 as a collaboration between the city of Eugene and White Bird Clinic.CAHOOTS started small: one van equipped with medical supplies and trained personnel, operating part-time in Eugene. Its mission was simple: to offer help to individuals and families, housed and unhoused, in crisis.The idea was that it would be better — and cheaper — to have people trained and experienced in counseling and medical care to respond to these calls, which had been going to police and fire departments.The wisdom of that decision has been amply borne out since then by CAHOOTS’ exponential growth over the last three decades and the place it has made for itself in the Eugene-Springfield community.It has more than tripled its local presence with two vans in Eugene and one in Springfield, and gone from part-time patrols to 24-7 service.The two-person teams that staff each van respond to an average of about 15 to 16 calls in a 12-hour shift in Eugene, although it can be as many as 25 calls per shift — slightly less in Springfield, CAHOOTS­ employee Brenton Gicker says, which works out to tens of thousands of calls per year.Gicker is a registered nurse and emergency medical technician; his partner on a recent night, Maddy Slayden, is a paramedic.They and their co-workers are a welcome presence on the streets of Eugene-Springfield, greeted with warmth by police officers, with relief by business owners who prefer the option of calling CAHOOTS to calling police, and with respect by the people they help.CAHOOTS is a significant part of the network of organizations and agencies that provide help to the growing number of people who are homeless locally — about half of CAHOOTS’ calls are to help someone who is homeless, ranging in age from children to seniors.The CAHOOTS teams have earned respect in the homeless community not just for the help they provide — from distributing socks and bottles of water to emergency medical care and help accessing resources such as medical treatment and emergency shelter — but by the way they do it.The CAHOOTS employees offer dignity and courtesy, which are often in short supply for people who are homeless.A typical shift — if there were such a thing — for a CAHOOTS team might include responding to a call about a homeless person disrupting a business; working with a family in crisis; helping someone who is suffering from substance abuse, mental illness or developmental disabilities access services and find safe shelter for the night; treating injuries; picking up people who are being discharged from a hospital or clinic with no place to go and taking them to a safe place where they can get help; and responding to a call from a landlord worried about the welfare of a tenant.They are trained to address issues such as mental illness or substance abuse and skilled in coaxing people to agree to get the help they need.Many of their calls involve driving people who are suffering from mental illness or substance abuse to an emergencyroom or, if their problem doesn’t merit medical care, to a safe place to spend the night.Despite more than tripling the size of CAHOOTS in the past few years, the need for its services continues to grow faster than CAHOOTS’­ resources.“I’m frustrated because we can’t be everywhere at once,” Gicker says. “There’s always things we’d like to be involved in, sometimes we don’t have the resources we need, or access to information. I feel like we’re often only scratching the surface.”CAHOOTS is a uniquely local response to local needs — people familiar with the program say they don’t know of anything quite like it elsewhere.Its growth in recent years has shown the need for its service; the response within the community, its ability to meet them given the resources.It’s time to start thinking about expanding a program that has been successful and that serves a need that continues to grow.Ideally, adding another van would be a step toward meeting this growing need, as well as allowing expansion of service to areas such as Santa Clara and Goshen that have few resources. It also would allow CAHOOTS staff to respond more quickly to calls seeking help, reach more people who are in need of help, and spend more time working to connect people with the resources they need.It’s hard to put a dollar value on what CAHOOTS does — how do you determine, for example, how many people didn’t die on the streets because of CAHOOTS? How many people who were able to get help that allowed them to stabilize their lives, or medical care that relieved suffering? How do you quantify exactly how much taxpayer money was saved by using CAHOOTS instead of police or firefighters, or the value to businesses of knowing they can call CAHOOTS for help?But the role the CAHOOTS teams play in Lane County is a critical one, and likely to become even more critical in the coming years.This editorial is part of a Register-Guard series focusing on productive responses to homelessness reposted with permission from http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/36272835-78/helping-people-in-crisis.html.cspSearchContact UsAdministrative Offices341 E 12th AveEugene, OR 97401(541) [email protected]/7 Crisis Line: 541-687-4000Recent UpdatesOctober Free Vaccine ClinicsOct 15th, 2020Fundraising for White Bird!Oct 6th, 2020New program matches homeowners who have space to share with displaced rentersOct 2nd, 2020Voting When Houseless or Concerned for Personal SafetyOct 1st, 20204 Things to Do Before You DieSep 30th, 2020What is CAHOOTS?Sep 29th, 2020Special Open Enrollment for Health InsuranceSep 25th, 2020CSS’s Neighborhood Hygiene StationSep 23rd, 2020Hearts for Hospice logoWhite Bird End of Life CounselingSep 13th, 2020Crisis Lines for SupportSep 11th, 2020COVID-19Updates from Lane CountyGO TO LANE COUNTY UPDATE PAGEMedical is Accepting New PatientsWe take OHP!Notice of Privacy PracticesEnglishSpanishWeb Site PolicySelect LanguagePowered by Google TranslateTranslateFollow UsFacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedInYouTubeRSS - PostsRSS - CommentsLooking for CAHOOTS?To access CAHOOTS services for mobile crisis intervention, call police non-emergency numbers 541-726-3714 (Springfield) and 541-682-5111 (Eugene).To access our 24/7 Crisis Services Line, call 541-687-4000 or toll-free 1-800-422-7558.© COPYRIGHT WHITE BIRD CLINICWHITE BIRD CLINIC ABOUT CONTACT DONATE GET HELP JOBS SERVICES:)