LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell says the department needs more mental-health professionals to help answer 911 calls, a strategy mayor-elect Nithya Raman has pledged to support as the two attempt to set aside their differences and confront Los Angeles’ mental-health crisis.
McDonnell met with Raman on Thursday for a “get to know each other” meeting focused on policing and public safety. The pair found common ground on one key issue: police officers are spending too much of their time trying to assist people with mental illness.
McDonnell has said that roughly “one-third” of the LAPD’s 1.45 million annual calls involve people experiencing a mental-health crisis, drawing already limited police resources into the city’s ongoing cycle of mental illness and homelessness.
“The mayor is in alignment with the way we’re doing business, as far as trying to be able to get increased civilianization and expertise to deal with issues such as people experiencing a mental health crisis,” McDonnell told The Post. The chief is seeking to remain in his position after Raman campaigned on a pledge to replace him.
McDonnell said he fully supports the socialist mayor’s proposal to expand the use of civilian specialists within the department.
The approach has also won backing from rank-and-file officers. The LAPD union endorsed the use of unarmed responders to assist police on mental-health calls in 2020, and Mayor Bass has since significantly expanded those efforts.
In 2022, Bass launched CIRCLE, short for Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement. The program provides round-the-clock, unarmed teams trained to handle non-urgent LAPD calls involving homeless people.
It remains unclear whether Raman plans to expand that program or create an entirely new initiative. A spokesperson for the mayor-elect did not respond to questions from The Post.
As part of her first 100-day public-safety plan, Raman has said she wants more unarmed crisis-response professionals accompanying officers on calls. Her plan also calls for additional 911 operators and an audit of the LAPD.
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McDonnell has said the LAPD spends “an awful lot” of patrol time responding to people with mental-health problems because officers are typically called when someone poses a threat to others.
Frustrated residents have inundated police with complaints about disruptive behavior at homeless encampments, which now affect nearly every part of the city. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, about 72,000 people are homeless in LA County.
With the understaffed LAPD handling a large number of 911 calls involving homeless people in psychological distress, Raman is exploring ways to shift some of that responsibility from police officers to mental-health professionals.
McDonnell agrees that psychologists and social workers are better equipped for the job.
“We do the very best we can with police officers, but certainly where we have mental evaluation teams that go out, where we pair up a police officer with a mental health clinician, the results are obviously going to be better,” he said.
Unarmed responders have the support of rank-and-file officers, with the LAPD union endorsing the concept in 2020. The following year, the union released a reform paper stating: “It makes all the sense in the world to have a mental health clinician dispatched to assist someone in crisis as long as it is safe.”
Los Angeles Police Protective League spokesman Tom Saggau called the proposal a smart move, particularly as the city faces a severe shortage of officers.
Saggau said the department has fewer than 8,500 sworn members, a historically low figure that makes the need for civilian assistance even more pressing.
“We can absolutely commit to this,” said Saggau. “Especially with the number of police officers that we have now, it just makes complete sense.”
