Los Angeles piloted an unarmed crisis responder program that dispatches specially trained civilians without guns to certain nonviolent 911 calls. Teams of licensed clinicians, social workers, community workers and therapists work in pairs, 24/7, and focus on welfare checks, public intoxication and indecent exposure. The program handled more than 6,700 calls in its first year, averaging roughly 40 calls per day, and freed nearly 7,000 hours of LAPD patrol time by taking on nonurgent calls. The program aims to minimize escalation, provide specialized mental health care, and allow police to focus on traditional law enforcement amid staffing shortages.
When deployed to non-violent, non-urgent calls for service, unarmed crisis responders have been shown to minimize the potential for escalation and address critical mental health emergencies in a manner that prioritizes compassion and safety,
The ongoing pilot program has teams of licensed clinicians, social workers, community workers and therapists who work in pairs, responding to calls around the clock, seven days a week. Over its first year, the program handled more than 6,700 calls, largely to conduct welfare checks and respond to reports of public intoxication and indecent exposure.
While the program's workload of roughly 40 calls a day is still a fraction of what the LAPD handles, the report says it has already saved police nearly 7,000 hours of patrol time by freeing them up for other tasks. With the city's police force struggling to fill its ranks, officials say such programs could have a larger role in the future.
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