I think there are some really creative 'teams' that could be developed to respond to the various situations that traditional police have dealt with over the years.
The trouble is -- as always -- is that taxpayers don't want to pay for it. Everybody wants their law enforcement on the cheap -- until something bad happens.
St Pete just spent $87M on a new Pier that absolutely no one cared about or was clamoring for. Meanwhile they gave a $0 increase for the police department but mandated that they have to implement this new program anyways and "contract" with social workers anyways, which means less of everything else.