Durham residents urge expansion of HEART program and oppose county funding for sheriff training facility

Dozens of Durham residents urged the County Commissioners on Monday to reject funding for a proposed sheriff’s training facility and to invest instead in the HEART unarmed crisis-response program and other social services. The county’s capital agenda includes a planned appropriation for the training facility that managers said will come back for a formal decision at the next regular meeting.

The public push came during the meeting’s public-comment period, when speakers — including representatives of the Durham People’s Alliance, the Community Safety and Wellness Task Force and Durham Beyond Policing — urged the county to expand HEART countywide and to direct scarce public dollars toward housing, mental-health services, school supports and alternatives to armed responses. “We urge the commission as well as Sheriff Birkhead to work collaboratively on a comprehensive approach to public safety,” said Nicholas Greber Grace, identifying himself with the Durham People’s Alliance.

Supporters of HEART said the program has shown results at the city level and said consolidating 911 dispatch and routing appropriate calls to an unarmed HEART team would free sworn officers for law-enforcement duties. “The task force unanimously selected the expansion of the HEART program into the county and into Durham Public Schools as the single most pressing public safety issue in our county,” said…