ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Mayor Malik Evans has announced a new program called the “ACTION Team” that he says will help with public safety.

The ACTION Team will consist of full-time employees who will respond to non-urgent 911 calls such as a noise complaint, trespassing, and/or parking on private property.

Mayor Evans says the goal of this team is to let law enforcement focus on more urgent 911 calls, but still resolve other issues happening within the city that are not as urgent or violent.

Evans said they wanted to explore how they could learn from the success of their “Person In Crisis” or “PIC Team,” which responds to any mental health crisis calls, and create a new team that can answer a range of more non-violent or non-urgent 911 calls.

Dr. Shirley Green of the Department of Recreation & Human Services lays out the groundwork for how it will work.

“Over the first phase, these action team members will be available 12 hours each day, Sunday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and we will respond initially to two specific types of calls for service nonviolent trespassing incidents and annoyance calls.”

“It is my personal belief that we need to find more and better ways – efficient ways, to respond to your calls for service,” said City Council President Miguel A. Meléndez, Jr in a press conference.

Set to launch in September, the ACTION Team will include ten team members who have been trained in conflict resolution, de-escalation, and connecting community members to services, said Dr. Shirley Green, Commissioner of the Department of Recreation and Human Services.

In this first phase, these members will work 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Sunday through Saturday, with plans in the future to expand to 24 hours a day seven days a week, according to Green.

Unlike the city’s PIC Team, they would not be sent out to calls with police officers, but rather would carry radios to request back-up when needed and have police officers screen the calls so they can determine if there are any signs of violence.

The PIC team will remain the first responders for people experiencing mental health crises, that is not changing. They will operate separately from the ACTION team, whose work will be more focused on other non-urgent 911 call types.

“Our community deserves continued innovation and teamwork to expand on the great work we’ve done together to address public safety,” said Evans.

Evans said he and his council will continue to expand on plans for the ACTION Team in the upcoming months and their public safety initiative.

See the full press conference below: