5 years after George Floyd's murder, Oakland's MACRO offers a different kind of response

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- This Sunday marks five years since Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, kneeling on his neck until he lost consciousness - a killing that was captured on video and sparked a global uprising against racial injustice and police violence.

The summer of 2020 brought waves of protest and a national reckoning. Cities across the country, including those in the Bay Area, pledged to reimagine public safety. While many of those promises have fallen short, one notable change is spreading across our region: creating non-police response programs for quality of life issues.

Oakland introduced the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO) in 2022, designed to handle non-violent, non-emergency calls for someone experiencing a mental health crisis, sleeping outside a business, or needing a wellness check.

Elliott Jones, MACRO's first hire and current program manager, has watched the initiative steadily expand.

"We quickly were able to move to city-wide," Jones said. "We activated our dispatch system, we activated a phone line, we activated an email, we brought on additional staff. So every month, it has been growth."

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Today, MACRO is staffed by a team of 28 who operate in pairs consisting of a community intervention specialist and an EMT. They are trained in crisis response, de-escalation, and connecting residents to services.

Raul Cedeno III, one of Jones' first hires, now supervises MACRO teams across Oakland.

"We've been building those relationships within the community," Cedeno said. "So people become aware of the services we have, what's within our scope, and how we can get people connected to the resources they need."

Data shows that the majority of MACRO's calls are related to wellness checks and behavioral concerns-many involving Oakland's growing unhoused population.

Rather than coming in with badges, the team relies on a softer, empathetic approach, said community intervention specialist Robert Fields.

"We really have empathy and are really here for them," he said.

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Part of MACRO's mission is to reduce the number of non-emergency calls routed through Oakland's overburdened 911 system. That system came under fire in 2023 when a state audit found it had the worst response times in California.

An analysis by the ABC News Data Team found that of the more than 11,600 911 calls in Oakland in 2024 that fell under MACRO's scope, only 10%, about 1,200 calls, were referred to the program by police. The majority of MACRO's roughly 1,600 dispatches came directly from residents using the program's phone or email.

"We're receiving about 30% of our volume from OPD," Jones said. "And if we are successful, that number will shrink, with more calls coming through the direct line or email."

MACRO now operates citywide, seven days a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., with three to five teams active each day. In 2024, they responded to 2,500 incidents that weren't called in, addressing situations they encountered while out in the community.

Still, the team's powers are limited. They cannot enter homes, respond to incidents where a weapon is present, or compel anyone to accept help. Services like shelter beds aren't always available. These limits sometimes draw criticism.

"Sometimes people will say, 'All they do is give out water and a blanket,'" said Alexander Coffin-Lennear, who has worked with MACRO for a year. "But those small items open the door to further interaction and trust."

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Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington, whose department oversees the program, believes MACRO could become a pillar of the city's public safety approach.

"Over the next five or six years, MACRO will move to the forefront of what we're doing from a fire department standpoint," said Covington. "The mental health challenges within our country are getting larger and MACRO is perfectly situated to meet those demands."

The program was launched with a $10 million state grant. Now, as Oakland grapples with a historic budget deficit, Covington says the department is exploring other funding sources to avoid drawing from the city's strained general fund.

"Many of the people that we support have lost trust in the system," Jones said. "We are chipping away at that trauma and trying to build them back to where they are ready to accept help."

If you're in Oakland and want to reach MACRO, call 510-44-MACRO or email macro@oaklandca.gov.

Other Bay Area cities and counties - including San Francisco, Berkeley, Alameda County, and Santa Clara County - have launched similar civilian crisis response programs since 2020.