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S.F. expands authority to impose mental health holds. Paramedics can now place people in confinement FacebookTwitterEmail San Francisco paramedic Eddy Bird (left) and EMT Brandon Backman talk with a homeless man in distress and assess his needs near the corner of 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco, Calif. Tuesday, May 11, 2021 after receiving a 911 call from a passerby for a wellness check on the unhoused person.Jessica Christian / The Chronicle San Francisco paramedics - not just police officers and doctors - can now order people to be held in confinement for up to 72 hours if they believe those people are experiencing a mental health crisis and are a danger to themselves or others. ....
S.F. s new street crisis teams are helping people in distress. But is it enough? FacebookTwitterEmail 1of5 San Francisco paramedic Eddy Bird (left) joins two emergency medical technicians in assessing a homeless man in distress near 16th and Mission streets.Jessica Christian/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less 2of5 San Francisco firefighter Jonathan Baxter checks in with a response team member after identifying a homeless man in crisis near Sixth and Market streets.Jessica Christian / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less 3of5 Street Crisis Response Team member and clinical social worker Stephanie Chiri (left) and peer specialist Vania Mendoza offer resources to Paul Lumpkin, 59, near 16th and Mission streets.Jessica Christian / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less ....
S.F. Mayor Breed proposes new wellness teams to shift more mental-health calls away from police FacebookTwitterEmail Capt. Jennifer Ishikawa speaks with Raymond Djasrabe in San Francisco in August. The mayor proposed an expansion of the city’s teams to handle noncriminal calls for assistance.Noah Berger/Special to The Chronicle 2020 Expanding on what officials called a promising start to San Francisco’s new police-free mental health crisis teams, Mayor London Breed is proposing a sister division that would respond to lower-level “wellness” calls that traditionally have been handled by armed officers. The street wellness response teams would represent the latest in the city’s efforts to dial back police presence from calls for service that don’t involve criminal activity particularly those involving mental health and homelessness. ....