Unarmed Social Workers, Not Police Officers, Will Start Responding To ‘Some 911 Calls’ In The City Of Albuquerque [Fox News]

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The Mayor of New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque, has announced that social workers will be responding to 911 calls, instead of trained police officers, according to Fox News.

Mayor Tim Keller made the decision during heightened talks of racism and potentially defunding police departments across the nation.

Black Lives Matter advocates have been pushing to defund, and ultimately, abolish police.

Keller announced that the city would create a “first-of-its-kind” cabinet-level department that would respond to calls on inebriation, homelessness, addiction and mental health.

“We’ve placed more and more issues on the plates of officers who are not trained — despite their best efforts and despite some training — they’re not totally trained to be a social worker, or to be an addiction counselor, or to deal with things around child abuse when they’re just answering a call,” Keller said. “We should have trained professionals do this, instead of folks with a gun and a badge.”

The Democrat Mayor said that the new initiative is “not pretending that people will stop calling 911 or needing a first responder” and would not ask “police to do more without giving them more resources.”

Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier said that this new initiative actually made him and his fellow officers, “relieved.”

According to Geier, the new public safety model would make their workload more manageable, and was a “solution” for departments overwhelmed by calls and cases.

“We are receiving reports about vigilante groups possibly instigating this violence,” Geier said in a statement. “If this is true will be holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including federal hate group designation and prosecution.”

“In order to contain the public safety risk, the City will be removing the statue until the appropriate civic institutions can determine next steps,” Keller tweeted.

“The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city. Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us,” the mayor said. “Our hearts go out the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight. This sculpture has now become an urgent matter of public safety.”

“There is absolutely no space in New Mexico any violent would be ‘militia’ seeking to terrorize New Mexicans,” she said. “The instigators this evening will be rooted out, they will be investigated, and they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

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President Trump is expected to announce new police reform at the federal level on Tuesday.

One man, who has not been identified by authorities, was shot and transported to University of New Mexico Hospital in critical but stable condition, according to Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department. The FBI has been called in to aid in the investigation.

A far-right armed civilian group that calls themselves the New Mexico Civil Guard claimed to have brought firearms to the protest to protect the monument.

Tensions began to rise between the two groups, and video showed a man wearing a blue shirt fell to the ground before protesters began advancing toward him, according to the Albuquerque Journal. That’s when the man in blue pulled out a can of pepper spray from his pocket and sprayed it. He then pulled out a gun and fired at least five times, striking another man once.

Albuquerque police officers were seen detaining men dressed in military fatigues and taking them into custody. The New Mexico Civil Guard is not affiliated with law enforcement.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in a statement that “although we are still learning more about the situation” she was “horrified and disgusted” by the armed group who “flaunt themselves as a ‘civil guard,’” but were there to “menace” protesters.