PUBLIC SAFETY
WESTSIDE VILLAGE SANDY SPRINGS
2260 MARIETTA BOULEVARD, SUITE 105 6125 ROSWELL ROAD, SUITE 1050
ATLANTA, GA 30318 SANDY SPRINGS, GA 30328
(404) 254-3235 (404) 565-0493
TEXT CLEAN TO 80426 TO DOWNLOAD THE APP & GET $5 OFF YOUR NEXT ORDER
KAWS PRINTS is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
KAWS, STAY STEADY, 2015, screenprint on paper, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of the artist. © KAWS.
Invesco QQQ
A DELTA
PREMIER EXHIBITION
SERIES SUPPORTERS
Sarah and Jim Kennedy
Louise Sams and
Jerome Grilhot
Dr. Joan H. Weens Estate
uui'sh.
AMBASSADOR EXHIBITION
SERIES SUPPORTERS
The Antinori Foundation
Corporate Environments
Elizabeth and Chris Willett
CONTRIBUTING EXHIBITION SERIES SUPPORTERS Farideh and Al Azadi, Sandra and Dan Baldwin, Lucinda W. Bunnen, Marcia and John Donnell, Helen
C. Griffith, Mrs. Fay S. Howell/The Howell Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, The Arthur R. and Ruth D. Lautz Charitable Foundation, Joel Knox and Joan
Marmo, Dr. Joe B. Massey, Margot and Danny McCaul, The Ron and Lisa Brill Family Charitable Trust, Wade Rakes and Nicholas Miller, The Fred and Rita
Richman Fund, In Memory of Elizabeth B. Stephens, USI Insurance Services, Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
GENEROUS SUPPORT IS ALSO PROVIDED BY Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara
Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and
Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Isobel Anne Fraser-Nancy
Fraser Parker Exhibition Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition
Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, and the RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund
KAWS
PRINTS
DEC 3-MAR 27 I HIGH.ORG
An alternative to 911
Moki Macias, executive director
of the Policing Alternative and
Diversion Initiative or PAD.
(Lisa Hagen)
“1
fill Li ■ r
Las.
: : i
4HM
1 i
BY LISA HAGEN | WABE
Preston Marshall works in an art-deco
fantasy called Atlanta’s Hotel Midtown. Lots
of gold, giant floral wallpaper and furniture
that looks like it’s from the set of “Mad Men.”
Marshall runs loss prevention at the ho
tel, and in his line of work, keeping the fan
tasy intact sometimes means keeping peo
ple out.
“Well in the past, the only option we had
was calling 911 and calling the police,” said
Marshall.
There have been times when it gives him
an uneasy feeling. “My heart reached out to
some of the individuals, especially knowing
that some of these people have substance
abuse issues or some of them had mental is
sues,” he said.
But since this summer, Marshall’s had a
new option. He’s one of more than 800 At
lantans who’ve called 311 as an alternative
to calling the police when they see someone
struggling with their mental health, extreme
poverty or a range of other non-emergency
quality of life concerns.
It’s called the Policing Alternative and Di
version Initiative or PAD, which sends out re
sponse teams from their office downtown.
“So each team is assigned a van. We have
it stocked with food, hygiene items, toiletries,
all that, so that way you know — we pass by
these areas all the time — we’re able to help
people,” said PAD referral manager Chyna
Quarker.
She’s usually the one taking calls as they
come in and tries to figure out what local
agencies or organizations might be useful
for each situation. Meanwhile, the two-per
son teams head out They’re people who’ve
worked in hospitals, in mental health and
sometimes peers with lived experience of
homelessness or addiction.
PAD helps get people medical care, deal
with financial entanglements, find emergen
cy shelter or ideally, long term, stable hous
ing.
After a pilot run Downtown and in East
Atlanta, the program went city-wide in July,
and Quarker says it’s been a busy six months.
They’ve diverted nearly 300 hundred ar
rests, according to Quarker, but PAD is a
small team, working on vast, complex prob
lems built up over many years, in some cases.
“Our current system, which we have had
in place for decades, is that the police are
available to respond to basically any con
cern,” PAD executive director Moki Macias
said. “And the expectation is that they will
make that person disappear.”
But she says if that person is arrested for
a minor offense, they’re generally released
with all the same problems they had to be
gin with, now with the added trauma of their
time in jail. Macias says that’s why a big part
of PAD’s work is community education.
“What we are promising folks is that
when we show up, well have a respectful,
kind, creative, proactive engagement with
the person, and that we will do our very best
to reduce harm for that person and for the
community they’re in,” said Macias.
A handful of diversion initiatives like PAD
have popped up across the country. Most are
modeled on a Seattle program that started al
most ten years ago.
Lisa Daugaard is a former public defend
er who helped start the Let Everyone Ad
vance with Dignity or LEAD program in Se
attle.
The next thing Atlanta will have to learn,
she said, is how to keep up with demand for
the long haul.
Atlanta’s PAD initiative was able to ex
pand citywide because the city council ap
proved a $1.5 million dollar infusion in 2020.
In Seattle, the diversion program’s annu
al budget has grown to $13 million. Atlanta's
police department, meanwhile, runs on $230
million.
In November, the Atlanta City Council ap
proved legislation to begin an intergovern
mental agreement with Fulton County to
create and establish the Center for Diversion
and Services. The center will provide care
and services as an alternative to incarcera
tion for those experiencing poverty, home
lessness, substance abuse, or mental health
issues.
People who work with PAD and diver
sion programs stress that their capabilities
are only as strong as the assistance servic
es available in a given community. Likewise,
its successes are dependent on how much in
vestment it receives.
In Seattle, after ten years in operation,
Daugaard says her people are gearing up for
a request to double their current budget For
now in Atlanta, Macias is just trying to find
a sustainable funding stream that can keep
PAD running as the city’s political leadership
shifts.
This story was made possible in partnership
with WABE and support from The 4am Fund for
reporting on mental health and policing.
14 DECEMBER 2021| REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
reporternewspapers.com
BH
