ORLANDO, Fla. — A new pilot program is kicking off in Orlando this weekend, aimed at improving community-oriented policing and addressing mental health needs.
What You Need To Know
- Community Response Team pilot program is new in Orlando
- Mental health professionals to respond to non-violent 911 calls
- The one-year program begins Sunday
- RELATED: City of Orlando Approves Pilot Program to Send Mental Health Workers Instead of Police in Some Situations
The city and the Orlando Police Department partnered with Aspire Health Partners to launch the Community Response Team (CRT).
The one-year pilot program will have trained mental health professionals, in teams of two, responding to some non-violent 911 calls where people are having a mental crisis.
Trained emergency dispatchers will determine whether it is safe to send CRT members, assessing whether anyone involved in the 911 call has a weapon or a known history of violence. If those risks are present, police are sent instead.
The CRT program is designed to reduce law enforcement in non-violent incidents that can be appropriately handled by mental health professionals, according to a city spokesperson.
Each CRT consists of a licensed clinician and a case manager employed by Aspire Health Partners. The pilot program has two CRTs working daytime and nighttime shifts, with a fifth professional qualified to fill in.
Orlando Police Capt. Lovetta Quinn-Henry, who is the police department’s point person for the program, says it will free up officers to focus more on crime and community-oriented policing.
“When police are called, sometimes they’re called because families are at their wit's end and they really don’t know how to help their loved one, and they call police in hopes that we have those resources,” explained Quinn-Henry. “And sometimes we just don’t have them or don’t know what they are. This team, the Community Response Team, will absolutely bridge those gaps and give them access to services.”
“I’ve been doing community case management pretty much my entire career,” explained CRT member Gina Ingrassia. “It’s just being able to listen to somebody, really hear what’s going on, and then provide them with what they need.”
City commissioners approved the $466,400 pilot program in December. The concept came together after months-long discussions with community members following the George Floyd protests.
The CRT program begins Sunday. Members are on duty during the times police receive the most calls involving mental health crises, according to organizers: Wednesday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Saturday through Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.