____________________________________________________________________________________
FOR CITY CLERK ONLY
Council Meeting: _______________________
Disposition: ___________________________
Agenda Item No: 7.a
Meeting Date: March 4, 2024
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Department: Police Department
Prepared by: Todd Berringer, Lieutenant City Manager Approval: ______________ TOPIC: SPECIALIZED ASSISTANCE FOR EVERYONE (SAFE) TEAM 2023 ANNUAL REPORT SUBJECT: ACCEPT THE SPECIALIZED ASSISTANCE FOR EVERYONE (SAFE) ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE 3-YEAR PILOT ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TEAM PROGRAM RECOMMENDATION:
Accept the Specialized Assistance for Everyone (SAFE) Team 2023 Annual Report.
BACKGROUND:
Over the past several years, there has been an emerging practice of replacing traditional law enforcement responders to 911 calls involving people in crisis with social workers, mental health counselors, or medical staff. The City Council directed staff to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) to implement an Alternative Response Team (ART) to meet the needs and support those in our community who need additional services. Alternative response teams can deal with a wide range of mental health-related crises, including conflict resolution, welfare checks, substance abuse, and potential suicide threats, and they rely on trauma-informed de-escalation and harm reduction techniques.
On January 17, 2023, the City Council authorized the City Manager to negotiate and enter into a professional services agreement with Petaluma People Services Center (PPSC) for a 3-year pilot alternative response program, not to exceed $775,000 per year with an additional $100,000 in start-up costs in the first year. PPSC utilized their existing model in Sonoma County for an alternative response team called the Specialized Assistance for Everyone (SAFE) Team. To provide these services to the City, PPSC hired ten (10) Crisis Counselors and Emergency Medical Technicians, a part-time Navigator, a Supervisor, and a part-time Director. On March 27, 2023, the City of San Rafael SAFE Team responded to their first calls for service. The SAFE Team operates 12 hours per day (8 AM – 8 PM), seven (7) days per week, 365 days per year.
The SAFE Team partners with other community-based organizations in San Rafael and the County, such as Ritter Center, Jonathan’s Place, Helen Vine, St. Vincent’s De Paul, and many others, to provide outreach, follow-up care, housing assistance, counseling, and other services. The public can access the SAFE Team through the dedicated non-emergency telephone number, 415-458- 7233(SAFE), or the San Rafael Police Department’s non-emergency telephone number, 415-485-3000.
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2
The SAFE Team is dispatched to the call for service through the San Rafael Police Department’s dispatch center.
ANALYSIS:
The SAFE Team has handled 2,693 calls for service since their inception on March 27, 2023. Refer to Attachment 1.
The SAFE Team’s two most commonly requested uses are for “public assists” and “welfare checks.” A public assist is a call for service or “flag down” by a community member or reporting party indicating someone needs assistance. This is typically for an unhoused individual. The assistance can include connecting someone to services, providing food/water/clothing, harm reduction, assessing someone acting unusual, or for subjects blocking walkways or entrances. Public assists are the most common call for service; the second most common call is for welfare checks. Welfare checks are initiated by community members, social workers such as Adult Protective Services (APS) or Child Protective Services (CPS), hospital staff, family members, or other parties requesting the SAFE Team check up on a member in the San Rafael community. The reason for the welfare checks could be because the person has not heard from the community member for some time and they suffer from a medical, psychiatric, or physical condition, missed scheduled appointments, walked away from the hospital against medical advice following a crisis, trauma, or serious accident. A summary of call types is provided in the following table.
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Call Types # of Calls Year to Date
(March 27, 2023 – January 31, 2024) Percentage
Counseling Request 208 7%
Death Notifications 1 >1%
Public Assists 1,343 50%
Suicidal Subjects 67 2%
Welfare Checks 840 31%
First Aid/Bandage Care 11 >1%
Police/EMS Assist 217 8%
Community Engagement/
Outreach 6 >1%
TOTAL 2,693 100%
Depending on the severity of the calls for service, whether weapons are believed to be present, or the severity of the medical complaint, officers or firefighters/paramedics may be dispatched as a co-response with the SAFE Team. Additionally, if an officer or firefighter/paramedic is initially dispatched, but the first SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3
responders determine the SAFE Team may be better suited to handle the call for service, the SAFE Team may be requested to respond.
The SAFE Team has had many successful outcomes with connecting community members to psychiatric services, de-escalating crises, assisting the unhoused community members to secure housing at local shelters, and providing drug/alcohol addiction resources. The SAFE Team has assisted with medical aid, drug/alcohol counseling, mental health assessments, and diversions of patients from regional Emergency Departments. Furthermore, the SAFE Team has diverted our at-risk population from the justice system through jail diversions and early interventions. An example of when a subject would be diverted from the justice system could be from a trespass situation, simple possession or being under the influence of a controlled substance, or other low-level criminal offenses. If a law enforcement officer had been dispatched to the call for service, there is the likelihood that the subject would be arrested and booked into jail or issued a citation. These types of examples would be considered jail diversions. It is difficult to assess the diversion rate because an officer on scene does not always indicate the potential for a jail diversion. For example, officers may be present during an involuntary mental health commitment.
Occasionally, some community members may not be located or will not be interested in the services offered by the SAFE Team. These events will generate a call for service, which will be tracked statistically; however, the SAFE Team may be unable to locate the individual (UTL), the person may be gone on arrival (GOA), or the person may refuse services or refuse to provide information. In these incidents, SAFE Team members will be unable to collect data on the individuals served. As depicted in Attachment 1 and 2, the absence of data will be reflected in the “Data Not Collected” section.
While the SAFE Team strives to capture the types of calls accurately, demographics of those served, outcomes, diversions, and types of transports they conduct, there are limitations to the data collected.
Some of these limitations occur because the client is unwilling to provide the necessary information, how the client interaction transpires, and variables in information gathering due to the complex nature of crisis intervention work.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
The annual SAFE Team report will be made available to the community through the City of San Rafael’s website and on Petaluma People Services website. Community based organizations, Novato Community Hospital, Marin Health Medical Center, County of Marin Probation Department, Crisis Stabilization Unit, and the Marin Health and Wellness Center, will receive a copy of the annual SAFE Team report.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with accepting this report. In 2024, staff will be looking into state and federal grants, community partnerships, and other funding options for program sustainability. Staff will also evaluate the viability of expansion to 18-hour or 24-hour service.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Accept the Specialized Assistance for Everyone (SAFE) Team 2023 Annual Report.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. San Rafael SAFE Team Report YTD Stats
San Rafeal March - May June-August September - November December - January YTD TOTAL CALLS FOR SERVICE 581 859 782 471 2693
Call Types
Counseling Requests 28 95 62 23 208
Death Notification 0 1 0 0 1
Public Assists 340 357 389 257 1343
Suicidal Subject 15 22 19 11 67
Welfare Checks 174 295 232 139 840
First Aid/Medical Assesment 1 8 1 1 11
Police/EMS 23 81 78 35 217
Initiated By
Dispatch 474 736 721 442 2373
Flag Down 25 25 10 2 62
Self-initiated 79 96 39 25 239
Attached to Dispatch 3 2 12 2 19
Outcome/Disposition
Advised 83 185 188 114 570
Assissted 261 209 183 113 766
Safety Contract/Safety Plan 0 9 7 6 22
Refused Services 43 58 39 32 172
Refused Transport 0 0 0 0
Transported 55 75 68 50 248
Canceled Enroute/On Arrival 20 25 30 16 91
PETALUMA PEOPLE
SERVICES CENTER
S.A.F.E.
TEAM
UTL/GOA 99 183 171 92 545
Code 4(Welfare Check) 15 79 72 37 203
Transported by Police/EMS5 33 24 11 73
Transported by Friend/Family03003
Housed 75 252 244 144 715
Unhoused 145 442 381 251 1219
Data Not Collected 63 153 157 75 448
Gender
Female 239 372 306 177 1094
Male 285 442 430 276 1433
Transgender05 110 16
Data Not Collected 57 44 35 18 154
Race/Ethnicity
Asian-American 17 11 137 48
Black 60 68 77 40 245
Latino/Hispanic 81 92 100 49 322
Native American 11103
White 289 533 453 300 1575
Data Not Collected 130 109 114 61 414
Multi Racial3 45 24 12 84
Primary Language
English 0 655 650 394 1699
Spanish0 33 33 21 87
Tagalog00101
Vietnamese00011
Other00404
Youth 0-24 y.o 22 32 56 17 127
Adult 94 436 355 293 1178
Senior 22 58 116 98 294
Data Not Collected 155 333 255 113 856
Responders on Scene
Police 45 67 63 41 216
Fire 30 37 38 24 129
EMT11013
MCRT03003
Cover Request
Police8 21 153 47
Fire/EMS 10 14 139 46
Diversions
ED Diversion 30 43 248 105
Jail Diversion 30 55 258 118
Ambulance Diversion 13 64 38 17 132
Referred to Services 41 97 59 17 214
APS/CPS Report Filed06 164 26
Transports
St.Vincent5147 17
CSU5 12 125 34
Transit Center7381 19
Resource Center30003
Kaiser34119
Ritter Center6972 24
Jonathan's Place30148
Residential 42129
City Hall10001
Library 2611 10
Marin Health & Wellness24028
Marin General Hospital4 19 148 45
Novato Community Hospital14218
Community Center10001
PPSC10001
Hotel 1244 11
Pharmacy 30137
Church
10001
Metro PCS20002
Sutter03003
Civic Center01124
PD00202
Rose Shelter00202
Salvation Army00000
DMV00101
Marin Medical Center00303
Gym00101
Laundromat00101
Jail00101
County Office00213
Warming Shelter00033
Post Office00011
Redwood Gospel00011
Pet Hospital00011