Early on a Thursday morning in late July, a Chrysler minivan loaded with Narcan, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses, fentanyl test strips, COVID supplies, and stacks of water bottles and snacks rolls out of the Oakland Fire Department’s training grounds near Jack London Square. 

Two radios are providing distinct soundtracks for the three-member crew. One is dialed to a FM hip hop and R&B station. The other, a hand-held radio, is connected to the Oakland Fire Department’s dispatch center, where emergency calls are routed to first responders. 

“MACRO 4 is in service for the day,” community intervention specialist Rob Hanna says into the radio’s mic, as Tupac raps in the background. Hanna steers the van toward the Nimitz Freeway en route to East Oakland as his fellow crew members game plan what they’re about to do. 

They’ll check on “sleepers”—unsheltered residents at their campsites who might be waking up—and offer them food, water, […]