Call to Mind: The Fifth Branch
Illustration by Luke Mills
Over the past decade, police in America have shot and killed 1,939 people who were in the middle of a mental health crisis. That’s 20% of all police killings in that time. Those deaths helped fuel a movement. Instead of armed police, more than half of the country’s largest cities now send specially trained social workers and EMTs. This new generation of first responders handle 911 calls involving mental illness, substance use disorders or suicidal thoughts.
Call to Mind: The Fifth Branch is a special program made in partnership with the Tradeoffs podcast. This episode takes listeners to Durham, North Carolina, to meet people who have reimaged the city’s crisis-response system.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of reporting and anchoring broadcast programs throughout the country. She’s currently the host of the award-winning program MPR News with Angela Davis. Her weekday talk show covers a wide variety of topics including racial disparities, mental health, education, economic issues and the climate crisis. Angela has won five regional Emmy Awards and two Gracie Awards for her work.
Jessica Bari
Call to Mind’s senior producer, is an award-winning producer and journalist. With an extensive focus in health news and programming—her work has been on national and regional public radio stations, PBS, Discovery channel, History channel and SiriusXM’s Doctor Radio channel.
Stephen Smith
Stephen Smith is Call to Mind's senior editor. He's a veteran journalist and the co-founder of APM Reports, the long-running documentary and investigative unit of American Public Media. Smith has reported on mental health, human rights, race relations, international justice and American history.