CRESS Program In Amherst Faces Challenges Two Years After Launch
Now more than two years old, Amherst’s Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service (CRESS) programme faces growing pains and operating difficulties. But in recent months, the initiative, meant to provide an alternative to traditional policing for certain non-violent calls, has been used very infrequently and is plagued by high staff turnover that uncertainty about whether the effort is sustainable and effective.
With high hopes and community support, CRESS was launched to offer a more nuanced, community based and socially conscious take on public safety. It was designed to take calls dealing with mental health crises, substance abuse and other non-violent, nonviolent situations for which a social service type reaction would be more appropriate than it would be having a law enforcement presence.
Although, data has been showing that the amount of CRESS calls being received has reduced than were originally planned. This underutilization has prompted concern regarding how integrated the programme is with the town’s emergency response system and how well the community knows about its services.
The exodus of roughly half of CRESS’ staff in recent months makes for more than its share of challenges. Questions have been raised regarding job satisfactions, adequate or adequate training and overall course structure due to this turnover. This also has had an additional strain on the other staff still left who have to fill in the extra shifts and responsibilities.
Such setbacks, however, are not enough to implicate the future of CRESS, claims CRESS director. The director’s statement, issued in recent times, noted that progress has been slower than expected, but that a strong foundation is being laid for long term success. Turning this into reality means the leadership team is doing what they can to refine protocols, improve training programmes, and expand community outreach to enhance awareness and usage of CRESS services.
Neighbours and public safety advocates are keeping a close eye on the situation, and know that alternative responses to crisis are key to the advent of modern public safety strategies. But many are still committed to CRESS’s core principles, saying that CRESS programmes are still necessary to address long-standing inequalities in normal policing, and that better responses are needed to certain sorts of emergencies.
But its critics note that current challenges in the programme are proof that the concept might need a lot of revision or that resource allocation might be a better fit elsewhere. They say that so low a call volume and such high staff turnover constitute poor design or implementation of the programme.
In an attempt to quell these concerns, town officials promised that a full review of CRESS operations will be coming in the near future. In evaluating all the data from calls, staff feedback and community, we will find areas for improvement and perhaps restructuring.
In parallel with CRESS, Amherst Police Department has said it is willing to work with CRESS in refining the programme. There is potential to benefit from specialised responders for some situations and department leadership still sees merit in developing alternative response models.
The days leading up to that announcement, as the debate over CRESS’s future plays out at City Council, serve as a mirror of the national debate on police reform and community-based public safety initiatives. Amherst’s experience could be a valued source of information for other cities and towns that are experimenting with similar programmes throughout the United States.
At the next CRESS town hall meetings, community members are invited to join the discussion of the future of CRESS and their thoughts on public safety in Amherst. The purpose of these forums is to utilise these forums to get diverse viewpoints and to take a collective stance to solving the programme’s challenges.
Amherst is focusing its attention on this complicated issue, and is continuing to come up with new innovative solutions that guarantee the health and safety of all of their residents. With the future direction that CRESS will take and how Amherst will address community oriented public safety going forward hung in the balance, the coming months will prove crucial.