St Pete Police Social Worker Program Set to Begin By Mitch Perry Pinellas County PUBLISHED 6:31 AM ET Jan. 13, 2021 PUBLISHED 6:31 AM EST Jan. 13, 2021 SHARE ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A plan to have social service workers respond to calls for some non-violent incidents in St. Petersburg is getting closer to happening following the city council’s approval last week of a nine-month $850,000 contract with Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services to head the Community Assistance Liaison (CAL) program. The proposal was originally announced by Mayor Rick Kriseman and St.Pete Police Chief Anthony Holloway in July, as protests in St. Pete (and around the world) were still ongoing following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis Police Department officers on Memorial Day. It led to calls in some quarters to “defund” the police, though Mayor Rick Kriseman said at the time he was looking to “reimagine”what police departments could do moving forward.