Public SafetyWe need better communications to discern the difference between a 911 call for law enforcement, a call for mental health, substance abuse, EMS, or firefighters. Mental Health Counselors and Substance Abuse Counselors dispatched through local 911 can help reduce the unnecessary involvement of deputies, officers, firefighters, or EMS. In the effort to accomplish this, I propose a name change for the board to “Tillamook County Emergency Communications District 911/988” when the new 988 number is implemented nationwide.
https://www.fcc.gov/suicide-prevention-hotline 911/988 Operators need to be trained in Mental Health First aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/ This will properly prepare/educate operators for knowing what agency to deploy mental health as opposed to uniformed/armed law enforcement, EMS, or Firefighters. Research shows that, depending on the situation, deploying uniformed first responders to a mental health or substance abuse situation could unnecessarily traumatize subjects that are calling for non-law enforcement reasons. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2020/10/28/492492/community-responder-model/ I will encourage and support the consolidation of the Fire Service in Tillamook County by working with the Fire Defense Board and the Special Districts to maintain the city departments’ ISO ratings that could become a part of other established districts. My pursuit of Tillamook Communications District 911 is out of my desire to give back to my community. It started when I moved here 6 years ago when I joined the Bay City Fire Department and as a member of the Nehalem Emergency Volunteer Corps CERT Team. As a first responder I learned about emergency services. I am immensely grateful for the opportunities that I was afforded. My five years of volunteering led to a run for Mayor of Bay City. I have learned and continue to learn about the governance of a small town. I ran meetings, maintained order, promoted the city, issued press releases, attended government meetings, deliberated, pontificated, all the while keeping the interests of the electorate in mind. It’s the honor to serve that inspires me and the opportunity to serve Tillamook Communications District 911 would be a great honor. Tillamook County is woefully unprepared for the substance abuse problems and mental health concerns that our community will face in the coming years, especially now that we have experienced a catastrophic blow to our economy. Alcohol sales are up in record numbers in Oregon and we already had a serious problem to begin with. When locals call Tillamook a drinking town with a fishing problem, you know it can’t be good. So what are we prepared to do about it? I can tell you what I am prepared to do, and that’s to work with local law enforcement professionals to bring what I envision as reimagining policing and law enforcement based on research and empirical-based approaches. Equity and Inclusion as well as Justice and Diversity are key concepts that need to be considered in this effort. We are on the precipice of quite possibly the most important special districts election in recent history. Having leaders that have proven that they can get the job done and bring meaningful solutions to Tillamook County is what the citizens of Tillamook County deserve. I hope you will consider me as your next elected member of Tillamook Emergency Communications District 911, so that together we can imagine the possibilities of what we the people want for the future of 911 Emergency, mental health emergencies, substance use emergencies, policing, and law enforcement in Tillamook County. Thank you for taking the time to visit my site and learn about what my hopes are for Tillamook County. Please do not hesitate to call my campaign headquarters to have any conversations you would like to have with me at 503-457-7032. |
COPYRIGHT 2021 - CHRISTOPHER KRUEBBE FOR TILLAMOOK COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT 911, POSITION #3