Rethinking Public Safety in Small Town America

*This is not a NAVAA-hosted event.  Please refer to the registration page for contact information.*

Please join NCJA for our next Policy Session on July 23 at 2:00 pm ET: Shifting Populations, Escalating Risks: Rethinking Public Safety in Small-Town America.

Community violence is declining. However, police encounters are becoming more dangerous, especially across rural and small-town America. This presentation unpacks the drivers of that trend: pandemic-era population shifts, scarce behavioral-health resources, and a surge of mental-health and disturbance 911 calls managed by understaffed, under-trained departments. We also outline the contexts in which police contacts are most likely to escalate into physical altercations. Finally, we’ll spotlight solutions already delivering results, including civilian mobile-crisis teams in Denver, Eugene, Olympia, and rural Kansas, statewide de-escalation mandates, and tele-behavioral-health hubs.

For more information, click HERE.