Oakland crisis response team draws mixed reviews

Oakland’s crisis response program is drawing mixed reviews from city officials and some residents.

It’s called the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, or MACRO. And it was created three years ago to deal with the city’s non-violent, non-emergency incidents involving people experiencing mental health crises or homelessness.

MACRO program director Elliott Jones touted its effectiveness, Tuesday, at the City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting. The Oaklandside reports he said four teams responded to about 6,300 incidents last year, mostly in downtown Oakland.

But some residents argued MACRO is dysfunctional and should be dissolved.They cited data that the program only responded to about 10 percent of the 3,500 calls made to 9-1-1 between January and March this year.

MACRO’s state funding expires next year. After that, the program would need four million dollars from the annually from the city to survive.