Community Safety Workers Win Recognition as First Responders

For the last two years, in Albuquerque, N.M., when someone calls 911 for a non-violent, non-medical crisis, the people who’ve responded haven’t been police. The city created the Albuquerque Community Safety Department (ACS), which employs trained behavioral and mental health specialists, to respond to these emergencies. Last week ACS workers, represented by CWA Local 7076, signed a contract with the Mayor granting them first responder classification status. This constitutes the first CWA contract with the city of Albuquerque.

According to KOB.com, last August, an ACS worker was shot with a high-powered BB gun while responding to a call. Though unrelated to the call, this opened the new department to questions about how workers can be protected while on duty and what a standard procedure for this type of incident would be. “There’s currently not a process in place, and that really does vary from incident to incident and employee to employee,” said Crystal Little, CWA Local 7076 ACS Vice President. “The next step will be to update the laws for these workers to receive the same protections from assault as other first responders.”

The union will now focus on the importance of establishing and maintaining consistent incident policies and procedures for the safety and wellness of responders, both during and after incidents occur.

 
Members of CWA Local 7076 have signed a contract with the city of Albuquerque, N.M., a first for CWA. This contract begins the process of recognizing members of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department as “first responders.”

This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.