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Council backs establishing community response team, asks for 911 call data analysis
Summary
City council adopted a resolution asking for data collection and analysis to support creation of a civilian community response team to handle certain mental-health, substance-use and unhoused-person calls, with LEAP invited to analyze 911 calls.
Wilmington City Council adopted a resolution supporting steps toward establishing a formal community response team to respond to certain noncriminal mental-health and social-service calls and to reduce reliance on police for those incidents.
Sponsor Councilmember Kendra Dolby (presenting the item) said the resolution seeks data collection and an initial analysis by LEAP to identify 911 call types that could be diverted to civilian community response teams. “A community response team is an entity that does not fall under a police department,” the sponsor said, describing teams of social workers and crisis specialists who respond to calls involving unhoused people or individuals experiencing emotional or psychiatric distress.
A council member raised a point of order that the resolution focuses on obtaining Wilmington Police Department call data that LEAP would analyze; the sponsor acknowledged the immediate goal was data analysis so the city and administration could plan next steps. The sponsor said LEAP had offered to perform the data work at low or no cost and that the council had been briefed by LEAP previously.
Council adopted the resolution by roll call: nine ayes, one nay, three absent. The meeting record shows plans for the administration and council to follow up with LEAP to analyze 911 call data and return recommendations for structuring a community response team.
The resolution as presented included no immediate fiscal commitment on the council floor; the sponsor said future funding could come from city funds and grants once a model is developed and that the item currently authorizes only data analysis and planning steps.
