Many Americans are dissatisfied with the state of public safety in their communities. Public support police hovers near an all-time low due to a combination of rising crime and growing social unrest due to hundreds of tragic incidents between police officers and unarmed citizens. At the same time, police morale and retention are plummeting as officers continue to be placed in impossible situations they are not trained for. City and town leaders are trying to address these issues with constrained budgets and a limited set of public safety tools. The solution is to unbundle police services by creating a new type of first responder: community resource workers (CRWs). This new class of first responder will relieve police officers of nonviolent and nonemergency incidents allowing police to dedicate their time, effort, and training toward addressing major crimes. CRWs will be specifically and specially trained in mediation, conflict resolution, and other skills to safely resolve nonviolent and nonemergency situations. This proposal has been awarded a runner-up Howard J Rudge award by the George Washington Law School for "proposing a creative solution to a serious societal problem." Author's Note: This proposal focuses on implementing the solution via the creation of a private nonprofit. This proposal is not limited to only that path of implementation and can be achieved by creating a new government agency in cities or by creating a new subdepartment within police departments.
