Saint Paul Police Department issued the following announcement on Dec. 11.
Our Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit does great work.
It was in development in 2017, launched in 2018 and has been changing lives for the better ever since. COAST uses a co-responder model to pair licensed social workers with police officers. Together they respond to calls involving people in crisis and proactively follow up with people in need.
And it works.
This year, our team of highly trained officers and licensed clinical social workers have focused on:
• helping people struggling with chemical dependency,
• helping people experiencing homelessness,
• working with our community partners to connect people with mental health services.
COAST has taken hundreds of calls this year. It's a SPPD success story the entire city can be proud of. And now others are taking notice.
Recently, the unit received a 2020 County Achievement Award from the Association of Minnesota Counties, which is a wonderful honor.
But it’s what led to the award that fills us with pride—people from all walks of life whose circumstances have been changed for the better thanks to COAST.
Thank you to the Association of Minnesota Counties for the recognition. Thank you to our partners—NAMI, People Incorporated, Ramsey County, Regions Hospital and so many others. But most of all, thank you to the people we’ve met who’ve been open to letting us try to help. For our COAST Unit, your health and happiness are the biggest rewards of all.
Learn more about the COAST UNIT (which used to be called the Mental Health Unit): https://www.stpaul.gov/.../community.../community-outreach
Original source can be found here.
Source: Saint Paul Police Department
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