Good News This Week: September 6, 2025 - Rangers, Responders, & Reserves

Good News This Week: September 6, 2025 - Rangers, Responders, & Reserves
Good News This Week: September 6, 2025 - Rangers, Responders, & Reserves ‍ The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week — Portland is expanding its first responder team dedicated solely to serving those having mental health crises The Portland Street Response has worked as an alternative first responder agency to serve people having mental health issues. Unarmed staff members are dispatched to provide services to those with suspected substance use issues, who have unmet basic needs, like housing, and more. PSR has fielded nearly 40,000 calls since 2021, and calls are up 19% compared to last year. To grow with the rising demand, the agency is adding 14 more staff members and working to strategically place staff around the city to provide faster response times. Denver has implemented a similar program since 2020, also expanding after seeing enormous success in patient outcomes. Why is this good news? Police officers are trained to respond to crimes — and a mental health crisis is not …