Washington, D.C. — Today on the Senate floor, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet pushed for his Supporting Mental Assistance Responder Teams (SMART) Community Policing Act to support law enforcement and strengthen community policing. The SMART Community Policing Act would provide dedicated funds for law enforcement to partner with mental health professionals, case managers, and outreach teams, so police officers can focus on violent crime.
“The SMART Community Policing Act creates resources for law enforcement to partner with local organizations and service providers, so they send the right responder depending on what the problem actually is,” said Bennet in his floor speech. “And that lets law enforcement focus on violent crime, and lets other responders with the right training deal with lower-risk situations, like when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, or a severe drug withdrawal. These trained professionals can deescalate the situation, they can connect people with the right resources, and do the comprehensive follow-up to keep them from requiring emergency services again and again and again.
“I view this as one more area where Colorado offers a model for the country to take on the rise in crime in a smart and thoughtful way,” said Bennet. “Americans have a reasonable expectation…that Washington cares as much about their safety as they do. And they expect the people they send to Washington will actually come up with useful solutions. And I think this bill meets that test. It responds to the needs of law enforcement and the needs of communities.”
Community policing allows law enforcement to partner with local responders to prevent crime, connect at-risk individuals with resources, and improve public safety. Mobile crisis teams, co-responder units, and case managers engage people experiencing crises related to mental health, poverty, homelessness, or substance use disorders to deescalate challenging situations. This reduces the strain on law enforcement and allows officers to focus on violent crimes.
Bennet’s SMART Community Policing Act draws on the success of Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) Program, Grand Junction’s Co-Responder Program, and Summit County’s System-wide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) program. Combined, these programs have responded to nearly 9,000 crisis calls that provided the appropriate service or resource to the person in crisis.
Earlier this year, Bennet requested increased funding for the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program. The COPS Program provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies across the country to hire additional police officers to strengthen community policing and crime prevention efforts, which includes expanding crisis intervention teams.
Bennet’s full speech is available HERE. A full transcript is available below.
You know, a few years ago, a police officer in Pueblo, Colorado was kind enough to let me join him in a squad car for a few hours to get a sense of what his daily beat was like. It was in the middle of the night.
And it didn’t take very long to appreciate that our country asks law enforcement to do a lot more than simply enforce the law.
Because Washington has underinvested in the American people year after year after year — in areas like housing, education, and mental health — it’s left law enforcement to pick up the pieces.
It’s put them in a position where they’re not only having to serve as law enforcement officers, Madam President, but also as social workers, as mental health professionals, and responders for issues like homelessness or drug addiction — even though nobody’s trained them for it necessarily.
And that result has been really tough for officers on the ground in Colorado and across the country.
It strains their resources, adds to the workload, and accelerates burnout.
But it’s also been hard for communities, Madam President.
It diverts law enforcement from violent crime. And it means we’re forcing officers to address mental health issues and problems instead of dealing with the underlying issues that produce many 9-1-1 calls in the first place.
And I’m sad to say that all of these underlying issues that everybody is familiar with have gotten worse during the pandemic.
It’s one reason there’s been a spike in crime that started in 2020 — before the current administration — and that’s continued ever since.
In 2020 murders rose nearly 30 percent.
Aggravated assault was up 12 percent.
Motor vehicle theft was up 12 percent.
And again, this was in 2020 — before the current administration.
But sadly, many of these trends have continued.
In a survey of small businesses, 54 percent of American small businesses reported an increase in shoplifting last year.
And to deal with this rise in crime, you know, we need to increase funding for the COPS program — which I strongly support — so we can hire more officers and strengthen community police.
And I think we should pass a bill I introduced today called the SMART Community Policing Act.
The bill is based on 28 highly successful programs from Colorado in places like Denver and Grand Junction.
And as I mentioned, you know, a lot of 9-1-1 calls involve lower-risk situations that don’t always require a police officer. But some combination of an EMT, a mental health specialist, or a social worker can get the job done – allowing the law enforcement to focus on violent crime.
But in most of the country, law enforcement has to answer every one of those 9-1-1 calls.
The SMART Community Policing Act creates resources for law enforcement to partner with local organizations and service providers, so they send the right responder depending on what the problem actually is.
And that lets law enforcement focus on violent crime, and lets other responders with the right training deal with lower-risk situations, like when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, or a severe drug withdrawal.
These trained professionals can deescalate the situation, they can connect people with the right resources, and do the comprehensive follow-up to keep them from requiring emergency services again and again and again.
Grand Junction’s Co-Responder Unit has answered over 3,200 calls since the program began in 2018.
Denver’s STAR Program has responded to almost 4,600 calls since 2020.
And I had a chance to hear about the STAR Program from Denver’s Police Chief Paul Pazen two years ago.
He told me about another time a mom called 9-1-1 because she was having a lot of trouble with her child.
You don’t need a police officer for that — so they sent responders from STAR, who deescalated the situation and saved law enforcement precious time.
If you add it all up, that’s thousands of hours that officers in Denver, Grand Junction, and across Colorado could focus on violent crime instead of on issues that other people might have greater expertise to deal with, people with the right training in nonviolent situations. It allows us to reduce the strain on the system.
And none of this is speculation, Madam President.
When Stanford University studied Denver’s program, they found that, in neighborhoods patrolled by STAR, reports of less serious crimes dropped by more than a third.
And the program saved a lot of money. A ton of money. It cost about $150 dollars when STAR responded to an offense, compared to nearly $650 when the Denver PD responded on their own.
I can appreciate what these savings would mean for a local police department. My colleagues may remember that, before I was in the Senate, one of my jobs was serving as Chief of Staff to John Hickenlooper, who was then the mayor of Denver. I don’t know what became of him, Madam President, but he was a very good mayor for the City and County of Denver.
And in that job, I heard all the time from community leaders how they wished there were resources beyond law enforcement for situations that were better suited for a social worker or a mental health expert.
I would have loved to have had the STAR program when I was working for the City and County of Denver.
And I would have loved it when I was superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, where a lot of my job was working with the Denver Police Department to keep our schools safe, and to reduce the ticketing of kids so they weren’t cycling through the criminal justice system prematurely.
All this experience, Madam President, led me to write this bill.
And I view this as one more area where Colorado offers a model for the country to take on the rise in crime in a smart and thoughtful way.
Americans have a reasonable expectation — a reasonable expectation — that Washington cares as much about their safety as they do. And they expect the people they send to Washington will actually come up with useful solutions.
And I think this bill meets that test.
It responds to the needs of law enforcement and the needs of communities.
I don’t know how anybody here could object to it.
If you want to reduce violent crime, you should support this bill.
If you want trained experts responding to nonviolent 9-1-1 calls, instead of police officers, you should support this bill.
And if you want to save taxpayer money, Madam President, you should support this bill.
So I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take a look at this proposal, and I gladly welcome their support.
Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.