Stymied Stimulus, 911’s Black Box, Our Preexisting Health Challenge

There’s probably no greater example of the divorce between the needs of the American people and the priorities of the lawmakers who govern them than Congress’ inability to pass a new COVID-19 relief package. While Americans who are suffering record unemployment, food insecurity, and an eviction crisis await a second wave of aid, Congress and the Trump administration have prioritized politics, allowing infighting and rhetoric to skewer emerging compromises. 

Why It Matters: It’s more than a second stimulus check that’s on the line. The next COVID relief package could also include a number of high-stakes relief measures that haven’t received nearly as much airtime, despite their urgent and even life-or-death consequences. Critical but lesser-known measures that are in limbo include protections against surprise medical billing, life-saving criminal justice reforms, funding for colleges, a life raft for local and state governments, and help for women and older Americans. 

Bottom Line: Americans are done waiting. They need relief, and they need it now.

By Evan Mintz, Communications Manager

Every year, Americans place about 240 million 911 calls. And although the 911 system has been around for over 50 years, there’s very little information about the nature of those calls, how they are handled, and how police respond to them. A new AV-supported study by the Vera Institute of Justice helps to fill in the gaps. 

What They Found: Vera researchers were granted full access to the 911 systems in Camden County, New Jersey and Tucson, Arizona, making numerous site visits to observe training, call-taking, and dispatch procedures. Among the key findings: A majority of 911 calls are non-criminal in nature. 

Why it Matters: The shootings of Tamir Rice and Jacob Blake, and the murder of George Floyd (who would have been 47 this week) and many other unjust and unnecessary deaths, began with a call to 911. So much of our criminal justice system begins with those three digits, and failures within this system can set off a spiral of consequences that have too often ended in tragedy. Vera’s research not only offers some much-needed insight into police work, but it also points the way forward to needed reforms.

What’s Next: The Vera study includes recommendations for legislative changes, including safeguarding 911 revenue streams and developing national standards to guide 911 data collection and estimation procedures. Vera also released companion pieces to the report, providing a set of questions every community should be asking of their 911 data and a guide to 911 open-datasets for those interested in learning more but unsure of where to start. This information can help jurisdictions think critically about the most effective use of 911. 

Related: Philadelphia police will start flagging 911 calls that involve a behavioral health crisis, reports WHYY.

By Adrienne Faraci, Communications Manager

In the midst of a pandemic, our nation’s preexisting public health challenge — opioid use disorder — is in dire need of attention. Communities of color have seen opioid overdose deaths increase disproportionately, and people experiencing homelessness and those involved in the criminal justice system are now unable to access the care they need, according to a new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center that tracks spending for opioid use disorder at the federal level.

What’s Happening: Public health experts are grappling with major questions around funding for evidence-based treatment and whether those dollars are being deployed to assist those who need it the most. The report looks at six states — Arizona, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington — to understand how spending varies in different geographies and communities across the country. “We know that our country has a history of deploying non-evidence-based responses to the issues of drug overdose and high-risk drug use,” says Sarah Twardock, AV Public Health Manager. “Our goal is to ensure that paradigm changes. Analyses like these can track how public dollars are being spent and inform what may need to change to improve the national response.”

Bottom Line: While the report shows that federal money is going to states that need it, it’s unclear whether populations most at risk are getting help. “All of America is being impacted. We need to close the gap for communities of color and improve access to treatment programs,” said Anand Parekh, MD, Chief Medical Advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center.

By Evan Mintz, Communications Manager

We know surprisingly little about firearms usage in America. A new expert panel has set out to fix that. This week the AV–funded NORC Expert Panel on Firearms Data Infrastructure released a major report with recommendations that will give policymakers and the public a roadmap for improving the collecting and sharing of firearms data to reduce gun violence in the country.

Why it Matters: To put it bluntly, the U.S. doesn’t know a lot about guns. We don’t know where firearms used in violent crimes come from. We don’t know what laws and policies are effective at preventing gun violence. We don’t have basic research or data collection. We don’t even know how many people are injured each year due to gun violence. “We don’t have those answers because the federal government, which is the country’s biggest source of research funding, has significantly underinvested in this topic,” says Asheley Van Ness, AV Director of Criminal Justice. Last year, Congress approved one year of gun violence prevention research funding, but gun violence is one of the leading causes of death in America, and we’re still lacking basic research. 

What’s Next: Experts and advocates need to start putting pressure on Congress and local governments to consider the recommendations, such as collecting more data on nonfatal firearms injuries and on how people obtain firearms used in criminal acts. Overlapping data needs to be standardized, too. “On the local level, there are 18,000 local law enforcement agencies. They all report into separate systems,” said John Roman, Senior Fellow in the Economics, Justice and Society Group at NORC at the University of Chicago. “We provide recommendations on how they can work together with the federal government to better collect and standardize their data.”

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This weekend, I’ll be watching “Time,” a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Garrett Bradley. I’ve been waiting weeks to access this film — it was in select theaters but makes its debut on Amazon today. It pulled me in with its gut-wrenching trailer, rendered in contemplative black-and-white visuals, in which the protagonist of this story, Sibil Richardson, makes repeated calls to inquire about her husband’s case. Robert Richardson was sentenced to 60 years — essentially life — at Louisiana State Penitentiary for armed robbery, and Sibil is alone to raise their six children, including twins she gave birth to after his incarceration. His sentence is also theirs. “Success is the best revenge” is her mantra throughout this deeply personal look at a family broken by incarceration, and she does find success: as an entrepreneur, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and in her mission for justice.

• “I’m the first to win it, but I’m not the first to deserve it.” Eric Hale is the first Black man named Texas Teacher of the Year. “I’m chasing the ghost of the educator I needed as a child.”
   
• When your neighbor has to knock on your door in the middle of the night to tell you that you won the Nobel Prize.
   
• My kids and I like to take random breaks to laugh at adorable creatures on Instagram, and one of our favorites is Round Boys, a delightful round-up of all manner of round animals. (We often revisit this one and this one — volume on, please). Bonus: Here’s the most fashionable dog on the Internet. You’re welcome.
  
  Related: Speaking of round animals, have you heard of Alaska’s annual “Fat Bear” contest?