Council will vote on ‘mobile community response teams’
Allentown petition measure would send social workers to some 911 calls
Allentown City Council is poised to vote next month on a controversial measure that would send social workers to some 911 calls instead of police.
At a meeting Wednesday night, City Council voted unanimously to refer the measure to a committee meeting June 7 for further discussion.
The proposal, which landed on City Council’s agenda thanks to a successful citizens petition effort, would fund a $4 million pilot program creating “mobile community response teams” to respond to certain types of 911 calls, specifically those that deal with mental health or homelessness.
More than a dozen residents about the proposal during public comment. Some advocates commended the idea and urged council to approve it, while others criticized it because feedback from police chief and city officials was not sought.
Allentown police Chief Charles Roca, who has publicly opposed the measure, said it “meets police abolitionist goals and defund-the-police rhetoric.” He said the proposal was made without input from him or anyone in city administration.
“I have a passion for mental health and our police department will treat people with respect, but we do so safely,” Roca said. “Many of these services that we talk about, mental health response, these are services that complement a police response, they are not a replacement for it.”
Pinebrook Family Answers CEO Bill Vogler said a joint program between his social service agency and Allentown police is “already achieving” a lot of the goals that the mobile response teams aim to reach.
“That $4 million could be spent on so many other things that Allentown needs and we know what those are: housing, homelessness, food insecurity,” Vogler said. “To spend $4 million replicating (a mobile crisis response program) here when we already have systems in
place that can achieve those goals I think is irresponsible spending.”
Some residents and Mayor Matt Tuerk echoed those concerns, and said that the petitioners should have collaborated with the city on their proposal.
“The disrespect to Chief Roca, that he was not included,” said Jessica Lee Ortiz, an Allentown resident and director of the Ortiz Ark Foundation. “I felt that was a disrespect to our chief and our administration. We all have to be part of the conversation. … If it’s a great idea, why aren’t we calling everyone to the table?”
But advocates for the proposal said it is a crucial change that would help keep mentally ill and homeless people out of the prison system. Some pointed to other successful programs that send social workers to crisis situations in Eugene, Oregon, and Denver.
Carol Moeller, an Allentown resident, told City Council that she could have benefitted from a mobile community response program. She has bipolar disorder and said she had a difficult encounter with police while experiencing a mental health crisis.
“I just wanted to put a human face on how important it is to, at least in some situations, not have police respond, but rather professionals who are more oriented to mental health intervention,” Moeller said.
Jon Irons, a candidate for Lehigh County commissioner who helped circulate the petition, said those who signed the petition often shared personal stories about how police responses have affected them.
“As soon as I had the conversation and presented the idea that there might be the possibility of another response for mental health crises in the city, people would stop me and just sign it,” Irons said. “This was across generations, across racial groups, correction officers, people who said they are supporters of the Fraternal Order of Police — this is extremely popular.”
But Tuerk said he believed the petition was misrepresented by some of
“There was in fact no collaboration between the drafting of this petition and the proposed ordinance and any member of the admin. We are willing to talk about these issues, I know that you are all willing to address these issues, I just don’t think we’re willing to address it in this particular form.” — Mayor Matt Tuerk
its circulators. He said both his wife and child signed the petition, but that people who signed it may not have known the details of what they were choosing to support.
He said if the question ends up on the ballot, he hopes it is defeated.
“There was in fact no collaboration between the drafting of this petition and the proposed ordinance and any member of the admin,” Tuerk said. “We are willing to talk about these issues, I know that you are all willing to address these issues, I just don’t think we’re willing to address it in this particular form.”
According to Allentown’s laws, five qualified voters of the city can form a “petitioners committee” that is responsible for gathering signatures in support of their proposed ordinance. If the petition receives at least 2,000 signatures from registered voters in the city, City Council must hold a vote on it. If within 60 days council votes it down, fails to vote at all or makes significant changes to the proposal, it will be placed on the ballot at the next general election — in this case, in November.
City Council member Ce-Ce Gerlach, who supported the petition efforts, pushed back on claims that city officials were not clued in. Gerlach has long advocated for an alternative 911 response program, and convened a group of experts in 2021 for a committee meeting to discuss the proposal.
She told The Morning Call last week that after that meeting, it became clear that the mobile crisis response program did not have the support of City Council at the time, which is why the petition effort began.
“This is not a new conversation,” Gerlach said.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.