Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Model Lessons topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Durham and Denver officials outline civilian response lessons for Baltimore's pilot design
Summary
Durham's HEART and Denver's STAR programs were presented as models: Durham reported rapid average response times and trust‑building via debriefs and officer engagement; Denver emphasized direct 911 dispatch, eligibility codes and staged expansion from pilot to citywide coverage.
Officials from Durham and Denver told Baltimore City Council that alternative response models require explicit dispatch integration, visible scale, strong program leadership and sustainable workforce pipelines.
Chief Patrice Andrews said HEART began in Durham in 2021 with co‑response and unarmed community teams, accompanied by deliberate outreach to officers and weekly debriefs. She reported HEART’s qualified responses—about 39,325 in a given multi‑year span—and an average time to scene of 6.05 minutes, and said officers and community surveys indicate increased trust in the model.
Andrew Dammerin, Denver’s 911 director, described STAR as a fourth dispatch option launched in 2020. He said STAR eligibility is limited to certain nature codes, that Denver identified roughly 15,000 STAR‑eligible calls in 2025 out of approximately 1.3 million total incoming calls, and that STAR historically handled about 20% of eligible calls in earlier data. Dammerin emphasized the need for a dedicated dispatch team, geo‑tracking, formal radio channels and partnerships with community nonprofits for wraparound post‑call services.
Tahir Duckett of Georgetown Law said successful programs share three attributes: direct 911 dispatch, sufficient scale to be reliable, and prioritization of community responders over costly co‑response. All three witnesses stressed workforce strategies (loan repayment, residency pathways, peer and case‑manager roles) to avoid relying solely on scarce graduate clinicians.
Speakers advised Baltimore to pilot in a constrained geography or limited call types and iterate; several cities started small and scaled over time. They also flagged legal and operational issues — dispatch liability and reimbursement rates — and recommended regular QA/QI to capture missed opportunities and refine triage rules.
Council members pressed on metrics — eligible calls, diversion rates and resource gaps — and were told the city has a mix of diversion options but needs more capacity and clearer triage and reimbursement mechanisms. The hearing provided multiple operational examples Baltimore can study as it develops its own coordinated model.
