ST. PETERSBURG — Amid national and local calls for police reform, city and police leaders announced on Thursday that some nonviolent calls to police will soon be handled by social workers rather than uniformed officers.
Social workers will respond to calls in St. Petersburg about people who are intoxicated or have overdosed, people who are in mental health crises or are suicidal, homelessness, neighbor disputes and disorderly kids or truants. The social workers will be in regular clothes and will not armed.
The change, which could go into effect by Oct. 1, comes after protesters have assembled daily since May 31, days after white police officers in Minneapolis kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for almost nine minutes, leading to his death. Protesters in St. Petersburg last week released a list of demands. Among them: “decouple access to healthcare from policing by building separate institutions for clinical dispatches” that would handle mental health and drug overdose calls. Protesters also wanted social workers to respond to domestic violence and abuse calls. Under this city’s plan, those calls will still be answered by officers.
“Our citizens are asking for change,” said police Chief Anthony Hollow during Thursday’s news conference at police headquarters. “The city of St. Petersburg and our police department are ready for change.”
The first step toward the new initiative, which city leaders dubbed the Community Assistance Liaison program, will be to solicit bids from social services companies. The earliest the program could be implemented is Oct 1, which is the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The program will be funded through by a $3.1 million federal grant, plus a $3.8 million city match, that were going to be used to hire more officers. will instead be used to contract with a social services company. Dubbed the Community Assistance Liaison program, the social workers will be dispatched to handle those nonviolent emergency calls rather than uniformed officers.
Police estimate it will save officers from responding to about 12,700 calls for service each year, about 5 percent of the 259,800 calls the department receives each year.
“This program will improve our response to mental illness, poverty, and addiction; providing assistance while reducing criminalization and stigma,” according to the mayor’s proposed budget, which was delivered Thursday to council members. “Our goal is to deliver better service to our community by having these trained community liaisons resolve issues, provide referrals for community resources, and conduct follow-ups. The other benefit is that our sworn officers will have more time to focus on community policing activities.”
Holloway also announced changes to the department’s hiring practices and training regimen:
Deescalation and self defense training will go from one time per year to two. Holloway said more self defense training will give officers more options before they feel they must use their weapons.
Recruits and new officers will receive more cultural competency training, while civilian employees will undergo training to promote fair and impartial policing, which sworn officers already get annually.
The department will also add a civilian to its hiring board, from either the St. Petersburg NAACP, Urban League, community faith leaders or Leadership St. Petersburg.
Officers will also have to log an extra hour of Park, Walk, and Talks — when officers leave their cars and walk around the neighborhood they patrol talking to residents — per week.
Holloway also promised to review the department’s use of force policy, how complaints are process, who officers are arresting and why, and to monitor calls based solely on the basis of someone’s race.
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Coverage of local and national protests from the Tampa Bay Times
HOW TO SUPPORT: Whether you’re protesting or staying inside, here are ways to educate yourself and support black-owned businesses.
WHAT PROTESTERS WANT: Protesters explain what changes would make them feel like the movement is successful.
WHAT ARE NON-LETHAL AND LESS-LETHAL WEAPONS? A guide to what’s used in local and national protests.
WHAT ARE ARRESTED PROTESTERS CHARGED WITH? About half the charges filed have included unlawful assembly.
CAN YOU BE FIRED FOR PROTESTING? In Florida, you can. Learn more.
HEADING TO A PROTEST? How to protect eyes from teargas, pepper spray and rubber bullets.
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