Montgomery County created a crisis center in July of 2020. Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker spearheaded the redirecting of $600,000 in funding to expand their Mobile Crisis Team. The Crisis Team is a two-person, 24-hour service that responds to non-violent situations. Now there are three Mobile Crisis Teams with a total of six staff. Based out of the Department of Health and Human Services building in Rockville, the team often has to choose which calls to respond to based on the severity of the situation and proximity to their location. The crisis center gets more than 100 calls and 15 walk-ins per day, and the mobile crisis team completes an average of 40 responses a month. It can take up to an hour in traffic for the Mobile Crisis Team to respond to cross-county calls. Montgomery County is hoping to funnel more funds into this program and expand non-police mental health responses. More of this story here.

“Reimagining the police”
“Alternatives to public safety are gaining momentum, but activists worry many of these ‘alternatives’ still involve police and don’t address root causes.“ This piece by