S2 Ep1736: City Proclamation Honors Community Assistance and Life Liaison (CALL) program 2-12-26

In January 2021, City Council approved the contract to launch the Community Assistance and Life Liaison (CALL) program pilot. CALL will improve the response to mental illness, poverty, and addiction, providing assistance while reducing criminalization and stigma.Many of the calls for service the Police Department is asked to respond to during a normal day are better addressed by a human services professional. Through CALL, emergency dispatchers will send social workers to certain calls for service including mental health crisis, suicide intervention, truancy, homeless complaints, and neighborhood disputes.CALL goals: Reduce police involvement in non-criminal and non-violent calls for service. Reduce repeat calls for service to police from the same person by providing support and longer-term service connections. Provide a more compassionate approach to quality-of-life issues. Increase the amount of time our sworn officers can focus on keeping our City safe. Gulf Coast JFCS in partnership with St. Petersburg Police Department will lead a team of clinical staff and community navigators who are dispatched to non-violent, non-criminal calls to provide a therapeutic, wrap-around response. #stpete #stpetefl #tampabay #radio #radiostpete