Can a program that diverts mental health crisis calls away from police expand in LA?<\/p>\n
A Los Angeles pilot program that diverts mental health and other crisis situations away from police handled thousands of calls during its first year.<\/p>\n
Supporters say it’s a good start and want to see the Unarmed Model of Crisis Response program expanded and made a permanent part of the city\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n
A group of more than a dozen city, county and state officials, service providers and community organizers came together for a summit Thursday, where they strategized on how to accomplish that goal by the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n
The summit was convened by progressive policy advocacy group L.A. Forward and City Council member Eunisses Hernandez.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese type of teams could have been a lot of help to many of our community members that have been harmed and have lost their life… So I\u2019m grateful that we\u2019re here,\u201d Hernandez told LAist.<\/p>\n
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Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Bob Blumenfield gave opening remarks at the summit on the LA City Unarmed Model of Crisis Response. <\/p>\n
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Robert Garrova \/ LAist <\/p>\n
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Last year, an LAist investigation found that nearly one-third of LAPD shootings since 2017 involved someone living with a mental illness and\/or experiencing a mental health crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n During a March 2024 meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, then interim LAPD chief Dominic Choi said he was \u201cfully supportive\u201d of the budding Unarmed Model of Crisis Response effort. \u201cIt\u2019s taking some of the workload away from us and shifting it to the appropriate resources for our community,\u201d Choi said.<\/p>\n How the program works<\/p>\n The city partnered with three nonprofit <\/a>organizations \u2014 Exodus Recovery, Alcott Center and Penny Lane Centers \u2014 to provide two teams in three service areas spread across L.A. The six teams are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the Police Department\u2019s Devonshire, Wilshire, Southeast, West LA, Olympic and West Valley divisions.<\/p>\n Crisis response workers are trained in de-escalation techniques, mental health, substance use, conflict resolution and more, according to a report on the program from the Office of City Administrative Officer<\/a>. The teams don\u2019t have the authority to order psychiatric holds for people in crisis, but they can work with them to find help locally, and spend more time on follow up than law enforcement can.<\/p>\n In its first year, Los Angeles\u2019s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response sent teams of unarmed clinicians to \u00a0more than 6,700<\/a> calls for service, ranging from mental health crises to wellbeing checks. Only about 4% getting redirected to LAPD. Average response times have been under 30 minutes.<\/p>\n Examples of these interactions include members of the teams taking food to a woman who was crying and hungry, working with a business owner to engage with someone sleeping in a parking lot and sitting with a family for nearly three hours to help resolve a conflict involving a relative.<\/p>\n Can it be expanded?\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently the pilot program operates in six LAPD divisions and the city has allocated funding to expand it to nine. But city officials and organizers alike said it might be difficult to get more funding for the program during a time when L.A. is facing an ongoing budget crisis.<\/p>\n