Antioch marks 1-year of Angelo Quinto response team

ANTIOCH, Calif. - One year after its launch, the city of Antioch is applauding the success of a special emergency response team.

The Angelo Quinto Community Response Team takes on low-level emergencies.

Its goal is to help free up police for more serious calls.

The team was named after a man who died in Antioch police custody in 2020.

Angelo Quinto was a Navy veteran who died after an encounter with Antioch police in December 2020. 

Team members handle about 500 calls a month.

The mayor of Antioch says in just one year, it's already had an impact on the police department.

"We haven’t had an in-custody death since we launched this, so that’s a mark of success for me," Mayor Lamar Thorpe-Hernandez said on Monday. "The fact that we can take 500 calls off of the police’s shoulders, that’s success to me. "

The mayor also says the community response program needs more staff, and is on borrowed time with federal funds.

He says the city may need to restructure its budget to fund this team in the near future.