The City of Minneapolis recently announced a public goal of diverting 20 percent of its 911 calls to non-police alternative response programs – setting an ambitious but achievable national standard for municipal community safety systems.

If the 100 largest cities in the country joined Minneapolis, that would equal 12 million 911 calls each year diverted from overburdened police departments to specialized alternative response systems.

The Policing Project at NYU Law is launching the 12 Million Calls Initiative in partnership with municipalities of all sizes across the country to achieve this goal. As part of the initiative, participating municipalities will receive technical assistance and research and policy support, including in identifying diversion-eligible calls, as well as access to a growing community of practice. The Policing Project will also collect data on diverted calls for analysis and aggregation.

Read more about the Initiative in our New York Times op-ed!

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