Undated photos supplied by the City of Portland, showing members of Portland Street Response team at work.
Courtesy of the city of Portland
New city policies will formalize — and expand — rules around how Portland’s mental health first responders do their job.
Portland Street Response, which sends unarmed employees to 911 calls related to people having behavioral health crises outside, has been limited in its scope since it was established in 2021, due to labor contracts, funding and political disagreements.
Under the policy changes announced Thursday by Mayor Keith Wilson, PSR workers will be allowed to shuttle people to homeless shelters and addiction treatment centers, respond to calls that occur inside commercial and government buildings, and be able to respond to emergencies in partnership with other first responders, like police officers and firefighters.
“PSR personnel will be able to respond to more call types, connect more individuals to the help they need most, and create better outcomes for those they serve,” said Wilson in an emailed statement.
The policies, which still need approval from the union representing the street response workers to go into effect, signal a step toward formalizing a program that’s struggled to get its footing.
PSR began as a pilot program within Portland Fire & Rescue in 2021, and expanded to respond to calls citywide in 2022. The program’s growth was then stalled by hiring challenges, which were exacerbated by a decision by former Commissioner Rene Gonzalez to freeze all PSR hiring to cut costs. This also kept the program from hitting its goal to begin responding to 911 calls around the clock by 2023. Currently, the program only responds to emergencies between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. every day of the week.
According to staff and former program leaders, the program also also felt limited by the types of calls it couldn’t respond to — like ones related to suicide, or when someone may have a weapon, or when someone is inside a building or on public transit. The new policies address some of those limitations. While PSR personnel still can’t respond on their own to calls related to suicide or involving person with a weapon, they are now allowed to accompany police on these types of calls. They can also enter “publicly accessible” buildings like restaurants, retail stores, and lobbies of government buildings to respond to an emergency call.
Yet restrictions remain. The team of 52 is still barred from entering homes or public transportation due to safety concerns, and they’re not allowed to place people under involuntary psychiatric holds. They also can’t shuttle people to hospitals, due to labor agreements with ambulance providers.
Conversations around which types of calls law enforcement should be dispatched have been going on for months within Portland’s public safety bureaus. The city council’s new Community and Public Safety Committee meeting is expected to explore policy changes to address these distinctions this year. The committee will discuss PSR’s budget at its meeting next Tuesday.
According to the city, law enforcement unions have been supportive of these changes. Yet city managers still need to negotiate these changes with the city union representing PSR staff, PROTEC17.
Rachel Whiteside, the union representative for PROTECT17, said the union’s members generally support these changes.
“We see them as a logical expansion of the street response program,” said Whiteside. “Some of the expanded services, like transportation, is a definite need in the community and our members support providing that service.”
Portland Police Association, the union representing rank-and-file police officers, agrees.
“We were always hopeful that, as PSR was rolled out, we would be partners,” said PPA President Aaron Schmautz, “Collaboration is the most necessary piece of it.”
Whiteside did mention some PSR staff hesitation about working alongside law enforcement. She said many staff have worked hard to build trusted relationships with people living outside. She said some of those unhoused people are fearful or distrustful of the police, and having PSR partner with police could impact the trust they’ve built.
PSR Program Manager April Roa said these updates will change the program for the better.
“We are humbled by the overwhelming support of the community and our first response partners in addressing PSR’s needs,” Roa wrote. “These policies improve the system as a whole and provide PSR more access to clients and streamlined care for individuals experiencing non-life-threatening crises.”
A volunteer-led group formed to advocate for Portland Street Response’s success has been critical of the city’s changes to the program in recent years. In a statement, Friends of Portland Street Response said it “applauds efforts to expand Portland Street Response to more widely meet community needs while staying true to its original mission as a first responder.”
