The recently formed Coalition for a New Vision of Our Security (CROS) asks residents of Washtenaw County to sign a petition support a proposed pilot plan for non-police responses to crisis situations in Ann Arbor. The two-year plan is the coalition’s response to a resolution Ann Arbor City Council passed in April, ordering the city administrator to create an unarmed public safety response program by December.

Formed just weeks after the resolution was passed, CROS is a multiracial and diverse coalition of religious leaders, social workers, therapists, public health and health workers, researchers, community builders, racial justice organizers and activists. They share a common interest in transformative justice and the creation of care-based community safety practices.

“Public safety should be about taking care of everyone without exception – no matter what they look like, how they act, who they are or where they are from,” said CROS member Reverend Donnell Wyche. “This is an invitation for us, as a community, to imagine developing a care-based approach to public safety. “

Wyche is also the senior pastor and chief of staff at Ann Arbor’s Vineyard Church. He explains that, like many other CROS members, he works very directly with community members. Situations that have arisen in her community and that of other CROS members have sometimes highlighted the limits of the responses they could get from 911.

He points to a recent personal experience that occurred when vaccinations against COVID-19 were barely available. Vineyard Church had just reopened for outdoor, socially distanced and masked events. Wyche had kindly asked a voter to follow social distancing protocols and encountered no resistance. However, when this person later observed Wyche (who was vaccinated) near his colleague (also vaccinated), the voter took this as an insult and got very angry. The situation got to the point where, fearing violence, another church member asked if they should call the police.

“I was kneeling on the floor putting up a sign and this individual was screaming and really surprised me and I was scared,” Wyche said. “My mind was racing. I didn’t call 911 because I didn’t think an armed response would defuse the situation, but I was also worried that this would be the day I was physically assaulted.”

One of the highlights of the pilot program offered by CROS is the need for a community resource other than 911. CROS suggests a separate public telephone number (such as 311), independent of sending 911.

“Say a person is being kicked out and that is creating a crisis for them right now,” Wyche says. “911 is not going to send a person with a moving truck and a storage unit and help that distressed person pack all of their things and then put them in touch with resources that already exist in the community.”

Wyche is happy with the community’s response to the petition – nearly 400 people had signed it at the time of publication. CROS had a number of meetings with the Mayor of Ann Arbor, Christopher Taylor, and members of City Council to discuss the feasibility of the pilot project, which would require an annual budget of around $ 3 million. As they move forward, the group continues to highlight existing models for the proposed pilot project, which have already been successfully implemented in other parts of the country.

“All of the programs we looked at are really good, but there is one in Olympia, Wash., which we are delighted with, ”said Wyche. “What we told city council is that it could work for us too. None of these other towns say, “Well, my God, we never should have done that.” “”

Jaishree Drepaul-Bruder is a freelance writer and editor currently based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at [email protected].

Photo courtesy of Reverend Donnell Wyche.