CAHOOTS is providing a model for rethinking public safety. CAHOOTS medic and crisis worker Henry Cakebread preps the med bag for responding to 911 calls. (Photo by William Holderfield, courtesy of White Bird Clinic) When Michelle Perin shows up to work, she has to be prepared for anything. Some days her 12-hour graveyard shift starts off with a call from 911 dispatch about a person who is feeling suicidal. Perin, an emergency medical technician and crisis worker with the community-based public safety program CAHOOTS—Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets—in Eugene, Oregon, drives a van to the scene, where she and another worker engage the person and assess risk. If the client agrees, they might take them to a hospital, to a crisis center, or into someone else’s care.