It is preposterous we let SPD tell us we can’t dispatch CARE without them; it defeats the whole purpose of the program:
One of the chief issues currently in contention is independent 911 dispatch. The most recent SPOG contract continued to give power over which responder should respond to which calls to SPD by failing to allow CARE responders to be dispatched alone to the vast majority of calls to which they might be the appropriate response. Instead, that power rests with SPD sergeants, ultimately positioning the CARE responders and their deployment as another bargaining chip for the police guild.