The Los Angeles City Council passed a motion Tuesday to replace Los Angeles Police Department officers with unarmed “crisis response” personnel to be assigned to “non-violent calls for service” such as “neighbor disputes.”
The motion, introduced by Councilmember Herb Wesson and five colleagues on the 15-member council, would:
- INSTRUCT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and the City Administrative Officer (CAO), with assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority and in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and other relevant government service providers, to develop an unarmed model of crisis response that would divert non-violent calls for service (mental health crisis, substance abuse, neighbor disputes etc.) away from LAPD to the appropriate non-law enforcement agencies.
- INSTRUCT the CLA to analyze and report back on programs utilized both domestically and internationally such as CAHOOTS in Eugene, Oregon as well other models of crisis intervention.
An explanatory paragraph says, in part: According to the Motion, budget cuts in social services have resulted in law enforcement taking on a greater role in dealing with homelessness, mental health and even COVID-19 related responses. Los Angeles has gone from asking the police to be part of the solution, to being the only solution for problems they should not be called on to solve in the first place. As Los Angeles Country engages in a national conversation on the re-imaging of public safety, the City of Los Angeles should look to be a leader and act boldly to structurally change how it delivers services to its residents, particularly those who have been historically marginalized and neglected. In order to properly service the most vulnerable, the City of Los Angeles should look to advance non-law enforcement solutions in circumstances that are non-criminal. – READ MORE
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