Two Los Angeles City Council members Friday introduced a motion to make permanent an unarmed crisis-response pilot program.<\/p>\n
Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion Friday seeking to permanently adopt a pilot program that diverts emergency calls related to mental health crises away from Los Angeles Police Department officers to specialized clinicians and other non-law enforcement personnel. If approved, the motion would move to establish a centralized dispatch system to ensure emergency calls are handled by appropriate teams.<\/p>\n
The motion is expected to be discussed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Unarmed Crisis Prevention Intervention in the future before coming to the City Council for a vote.<\/p>\n
City officials launched the pilot program in 2024. The effort was led by Blumenfield and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
Residents call LAPD\u2019s 911 dispatchers, who can then divert calls to a centralized center. This center then plugs one of three nonprofits who handle calls for service \u2014 Exodus Recovery Inc., Alcott Center and Penny Lane Centers.<\/p>\n
The three nonprofit organizations have staff trained in matters of de-escalation, conflict resolution, substance abuse, cultural competency and other areas of need, according to city officials.<\/p>\n
City Council and Mayor Karen Bass later expanded the unarmed crisis response model, increasing the program to nearly $11.3 million.<\/p>\n
Each service provider picked up an additional LAPD Division area to cover to the following areas:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alcott covers the Wilshire and Olympic divisions;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Penny Lane covers the Devonshire and West Valley divisions; and<\/p>\n
\u2014 Exodus covers the Southeast and West L.A. divisions.<\/p>\n
The program is inspired by initiatives in smaller jurisdictions such as the CAHOOTS program, implemented in Eugene, Oregon.<\/p>\n
Hernandez and Blumenfield in a joint press release described L.A.\u2019s program as a \u201cresounding success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professionals responded to more than 17,000 calls for service with over 96% resolved without police involvement, according to city officials<\/p>\n
\u201cIt resolves crises without use of force, frees up sworn officers for serious emergencies and costs taxpayers a fraction of the price,\u201d Hernandez said in a statement. \u201cAt a time when our city is facing a serious budget crisis, now more than ever, we must take these lessons and build a permanent, citywide safety department that makes care-first response the standard for all of Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blumenfield echoed Hernandez\u2019s sentiments, adding that \u201cCreating an integrated dispatch system is the next step toward our shared goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council members also said the pilot program is also a matter of fiscal responsibility as it is a lifesaving necessity.<\/p>\n
It costs taxpayers roughly $85 per hour to deploy LAPD officers, whereas the same response from a specialized unarmed crisis response team costs approximately $35 per hour.<\/p>\n
Council members noted that deploying armed officers to nonviolent calls is a constant liability that can result in million-dollar settlements.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that 35% of officer-involved shootings in 2023 involved individuals in a mental health crisis, this unarmed transition to a permanent care-first model is the only path forward that protects both the lives of Angelenos and taxpayers\u2019 resources that could go towards other lifesaving resources,\u201d according to Hernandez\u2019s council office.<\/p>\n
The motion seeks to improve the pilot program, by establishing a working group to enhance response times and operational efficiency.<\/p>\n
It would request a report on the status of a proposed new Department of Community Safety, which would house all unarmed response functions.<\/p>\n
When the city launched the 24-hour pilot program, the Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors \u2014 the union representing LAPD\u2019s sworn officers \u2014 expressed support for the program.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for LAPPL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The city has several unarmed response programs, such as Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 CIRCLE Program, which is also a 24\/7 service that deploys trained teams to address non-urgent LAPD calls. The difference is that CIRCLE teams respond to calls related to unhoused individuals.<\/p>\n
UMCR personnel typically respond to calls for service that have a social services component, do not involve violence, and are related to well-being checks, according to city officials. These calls for service can range from people experiencing homelessness; individuals suffering from a mental and\/or behavioral health crisis; conflicts that could be resolved through mediation or other resolution strategies; and other low-acuity or non-criminal matters, city officials said.<\/p>\n
The LAPD has a specialized team, called the Mental Evaluation Unit, which deploys officers and a mental health professional, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Los Angeles City Council members Friday introduced a motion to make permanent an unarmed crisis-response pilot program.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2323,13827,48,52,51,47,50,49,21543,69632,69633,17283,28322,69634],"class_list":["post-137007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-council","tag-crisis","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-make","tag-members","tag-permanent","tag-response","tag-seek","tag-unarmed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}