ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul is dropping a program that’s helped thousands of people in need.
Mental health providers will no longer work with police to follow up on 911 calls to connect people in need to resources.
The Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit, or COAST, handles about 1,700 cases a year.
They work with emergency callers dealing with issues like mental health, homelessness or addiction.
The city’s scrapping COAST in hopes of providing those same services more efficiently, without overlapping agencies.
St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry was asked about the move at a city council budget meeting Wednesday.
“I kind of make it akin to: we had a little house, and that family grew and we kept doing add-ons, and now we have that bigger house, but it’s kind of disjointed,” Henry said. “It wasn’t put together in a really thoughtful way, so we realized probably the best answer is we tear the house down and build it the way it should be.”