Faith-based and other social justice organizations are rallying for a different approach to dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. They say it’s time to reconsider police-only models for addressing these kinds of community problems. Their call to action comes on the heels of a report from New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank that found over-policing disproportionately impacts Black communities.
Director of the faith-based social justice organization, Salvation and Social Justice, Dr. Reverend Charles Boyer, teamed up with other organizations, to launch the campaign, Make The Right C.A.L.L. “What we know is that a huge amount of the calls that come into 911 are for nonviolent mental health and substance abuse issues. We have to move from a system that beats over the head when we are in crisis’ we have to move from a system that profits from our bodies,” said Boyer.
