Public Safety and Engagement Team (PSET)
The City Council voted unanimously in early 2019 to allocate $3.45 million in Measure Z money to create a Public Safety and Engagement Team (PSET) Program. This multi-department approach is designed to maintain order in public places while also providing homeless individuals with a pathway out of homelessness. Team members will specialize in providing resources and assistance while also addressing issues of unlawful panhandling, camping, abandoned personal belongings and vagrancy. The team officially begin its activities in May 2019.
For example, employees from the Office of Homeless Solutions, as well as from the Police, Community and Economic Development, and Parks, Recreation and Community Services departments have received training on engaging with homeless individuals, mental health and public health. The City also will contract with a private company to clean up homeless encampments.
On May 3, 2022, the City Council approved the expansion of the PSET Team to enhance the PSET Urban Team, dedicated to removal of encampments in the right-of-way, and establish a PSET Wildland Team responsible for the implementation of the anti-camping Ordinance in environmentally sensitive and hazardous areas.