Vietnam Vet

Police In Florida Town Will No Longer Respond To ‘Non-Violent’ 911 Calls

Police in St. Petersburg, Florida, announced Thursday they will no longer send an officer for non-violent 911 calls.

Instead, the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) said they would be creating a new division within the department – the Community Assistance Liaison (CAL). The SPPD said it planned to retain “a social service agency to respond to non-violent calls for service from the public.”

The new setup will begin on October 1, when CAL team members will respond to the following issues instead of police officers:

Disorderly intoxication
Drug overdose
Intoxicated person
Mental health crisis
Suicide crisis
Mental Health T***sport
Disorderly juvenile/truancy
Disorderly Juvenile at Elementary Schools
Panhandling
Homeless complaints
Neighborhood dispute

A press release from the SPPD said that in 2019, “the Police Department responded to approximately 12,700 calls for service on the above issues (out of a total of 259,800 calls for service).”

The new CAL department will now handle the above calls instead of trained police officers. The new division will also replace a previous commitment to hire an additional 25 officers over the next two years.

The Police Department will lose $3,125,000 in federal grant funding awarded to pay for the new officers and $3,800,000 the City had earmarked in matching funds required by the grant. The City will instead use those funds to pay for this new service,” the SPPD said in its press release.

The SPPD said it would monitor calls where a member of the CAL was dispatched “for one year to determine whether this approach has been successful or whether officers were still required to respond to these issues in addition to the CAL team member.”

Law Enforcement Today – a police-centric news outlet – tweeted in response to the SPPD’s decision that “Not every 911 call starts violent – but many of them end that way. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen… and it’s spreading across America.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/police-in-florida-town-will-no-longer-respond-to-non-violent-911-calls?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mjk

tramsey Loc: Texas

That last paragraph says it all. I was a policeman for more years than I want to remember and by far the most dangerous call was a domestic dispute. Hubby is beating on his wife and you take him down to realize that wifey is beating on you and yelling for you to stop beating him up. That's what happens in some cases. In others hubby is waiting for you with a gun of some type.
I retired just in time to miss all the action.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

It’s like that in many places in the country. Service personnel instead of armed response. It’s especially prevalent regarding traffic accidents without life threatening injuries.