Oakland mobile crisis unit touts success but only 6% of MACRO calls come from 911

OAKLAND, Calif. - The crews working for Oakland's MACRO teams are out on the streets, delivering bottles of water, handing out blankets and connecting unhoused people to shelters across the city.

In fact, after 11 months, the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland - created in the aftermath of George Floyd as a way to respond to situations without involving police officers – has much to be proud of. 

From Aug. 1, 2022 to March 9, the MACRO teams have made 10,249 contacts, given out 3,579 bottles of water and 2,375 blankets and made 1,514 referrals to churches and shelters, according to their own data. They've also made zero calls to police for help or backup, the agency's data shows. 

But the lion's share of these interactions are proactive, meaning MACRO teams of paramedics and community intervention specialists drive around Oakland, finding people who might be under the influence or in need of medical help on their own. 

Just 6% of their service calls comes from Oakland police dispatch. 

And that has several observers troubled. 

"This absolutely matters," said Cat Brooks o-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and the executive director of The Justice Teams Network, who pushed for MACRO a decade ago. "Yes, we should be concerned. We know that the majority of calls that OPD gets are about the unhoused. This is indicative of OPD's resistance to change. If MACRO's civilian efforts are successful, that threatens their funding." 

Call 911 to get a non-police, MACRO team response in Oakland

Michael Hunt, spokesperson for the Oakland Fire Department, which runs MACRO, said he didn't have an exact percentage in mind on how many 911 calls should be routed to the MACRO crews. But he acknowledged that the current situation seems pretty low.

"The numbers do seem lower than expected," Hunt said.

He added that he can't seem to pinpoint why that is. 

Hunt said he spoke to both police and fire dispatchers and both groups said they are in strong support of MACRO.

"We have full confidence that everyone is on board," Hunt said. 

But he did add that without knowing the total calls that police and fire get for "MACRO-eligible calls prior to the program launch, it's hard to assess whether these numbers seem high or low."

In addition, MACRO teams were envisioned to run 24/7 – and received $15 from the city and state to do so. Currently, there are teams who work seven days from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.  The program is now operating citywide. 

While some community members are pushing for round-the-clock service at this point, Brooks said that she's OK with the "slow build" of the program hours, adding that she wants a more perfected model before MACRO teams run round the clock.  

MACRO: Oakland now has alternative to calling police for low-level calls

Some other community members who pushed for and helped create MACRO see the program as a mixed bag. 

Millie Cleveland, who sits on the advisory board to MACRO, said she believes that the program is working with in terms of homeless outreach.

However, Cleveland said she does not believe that the MACRO crews are doing "what they were designed to do and what the community requested. They were supposed to serve as an alternative to police responses and I don't think that they're being diverted to scenes from 911 calls. They are straying from their original purpose."

She questioned whether the dispatchers have truly been trained on when to send police and when to send MACRO teams to certain scenes. 

In Cleveland's opinion, the MACRO teams have too many restrictions – such as not going into people's homes or walking into homeless encampments – and "they can't respond to anything." 

Cleveland added that she has tried repeatedly as an advisory board member to get answers to her questions but the "staff has been unresponsive." In addition, Cleveland said the advisory board is not set up in a way to elicit community engagement. 

Rashidah Grinage, co-founder of the Coalition for Police Accountability, which also pushed for MACRO, said it matters that such a low percentage of calls are getting routed through dispatch because that's not the program that the public was promised.

"There was a lot of community input that went into this," Grinage said. "And a lot of that was ignored. This matters in terms of the legislative process. There's an issue of integrity here." 

On a practical level, Grinage said that one of the key points in starting MACRO was to divert crisis crews to low-level problems, freeing up police to respond to serious crimes and emergencies.

"That goal isn't being impacted at all," Grinage said.

She wanted to know how is it that nearly 20% of the dispatch calls in Eugene, Oregon are diverted to CAHOOTS – the model for MACRO and other mobile crisis units across the country?

Grinage also wants to know who is making the decisions about what call to dispatch: Are Oakland police dispatchers not sending MACRO crews to the proper calls or are MACRO teams choosing not to respond based on safety restrictions?

"There has been no evaluation conducted yet," Grinage said.

The city auditor also has not conducted a review of the calls either, so it's impossible for anyone to know the truth based on the data. 

"Everyone wants to say good things about MACRO," Grinage said. "But we can't turn a blind eye to the problems and deficiencies." 

HOW TO REACH MACRO AND WHAT THEY WILL RESPOND TO: 

Residents are asked to call 911 to get a MACRO unit to respond, and in an effort to aid the dispatcher, the caller can stress that the situation appears to be non-violent and that a MACRO unit is desired.

MACRO crews can also be sent out by community members who use this email MACRO@Oaklandca.gov.

MACRO units will not respond inside anyone's home, a domestic violence call or anything that appears dangerous or violent. In these situations, residents in need can always come out of these structures to receive attention. 

MACRO teams will respond to calls about homelessness, some behavioral or mental health calls, noise complaints and people being drunk (and nonviolent) in public.

Residents are asked not to call 211, 311, or the non-emergency fire department number to get a MACRO response at this time. 

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@fox.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez.