As someone who works in EMS, I don't understand this concern... Obviously this is not a zero risk activity (welcome to emergency services), but trained professionals are aware of the risk, and have the skills to assess and react as needed (including leaving the area and calling police).
This is not some new problem no one has encountered before. EMS has been dealing with it for decades.
You're not being sent to deal with people who are more or less physically healthy though, or who aren't already agitated in a threatening way. And even if you "disengage," you still have the original crime; the homeless guy is still yelling obscentities and trespassing in some place, now he's just violent.
It's a different clientele, and ems is not there for conflict resolution at all.
We routinely get sent to agitated individuals. Whether that's someone experiencing a mental health crisis, under the influence, or experiencing a medical issue (diabetics can get extremely belligerent). Deescalation and conflict resolution are absolutely thing we do, pretty much every shift.
I fail to see how this is any different from the STAR program. The people involved are not actively violent, but have the potential to become violent, and the staff involved certainly have the appropriate training to deal with that and keep themselves safe (to the extent that's possible, emergency services are never going to be zero-risk).
EMS is dispatched to calls with a similar likelihood of violence as the program described above (i.e. low, but certainly not zero). This program isn't dispatching mental health professionals to "violent individuals".
Right... just like in EMS... Which was my point above. We don't expect our scenes to turn violent, but we're aware of the fact that there is always a risk of that happening, and we're prepared to react appropriately if it does. I assume the same is true for the STAR program.
I don't think there's anything wrong with him, but it's a weird assumption that people should not be armed in general conditions. In my opinion, it should not be a special or notable thing at all.
This is not some new problem no one has encountered before. EMS has been dealing with it for decades.