The homeless crisis on Southern California streets can be taxing for law enforcement. In one of the cities, they decided not to call the police and instead call an unarmed team of professionals. The people called include nurse practitioners and mental health clinicians.
Respect is the first key in building trust to create connections with the unsheltered. Social worker Jackie Tapia knows the process of doing that can take time.
She's been taking part in the city of Anaheim's latest efforts to address the needs of their homeless neighbors. It's a six-month pilot program called Community Care Response Teams, or CCRT. Instead of dispatching police to issues of homelessness, the unarmed CCRT teams respond with nurse practitioners, mental health clinicians, a social worker, and plainclothes security.
