LORINC: A first-responder service for mental health crises This column was originally published in Spacing ‘s fall, 2020, edition. City council’s executive committee yesterday voted to recommend a $1.7 million pilot project to test a “community crisis response service” as an alternative to sending police to emotional distress calls to 911. One way to think about the structural shortcomings of a contemporary police service is to imagine a hospital staffed entirely by ophthalmologists. Some people entering that hospital will need nursing care, while others may have to deal with the purchasing department. Individuals using one out-patient clinic are seeking treatment for kidney disease, and, while they’re visiting, may want to buy a snack in the food court. Yet every employee in that hospital will have been trained to specialize in cataracts, retinal detachments, and other ocular conditions.