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Podcast: Tradeoffs
Episode: Tradeoffs Presents: The Fifth Branch
Description: EMS, Fire, Police and the 911 Call Center make up the existing four branches of the public safety system. A special series from Tradeoffs and The Marshall Project explores how a city radically changes its response to people in crisis, by creating a fifth branch. Nearly half of the country’s 50 largest cities - including San Francisco, New York, Houston, Chicago - have launched programs to send unarmed responders to 911 calls historically handled by cops. In the process creating a new generation of first responders made up of clinicians, EMTs and unarmed mental health workers all responding to...