Wesson, Martinez Call for Reforms to Replace Police Officers with Non-Law Enforcement Agencies For Non-Violent Calls

Councilmember Herb Wesson and Council President Nury Martinez, supported by Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Curren Price have called for the development of an unarmed model of crisis response that would divert non-violent calls for service away from LAPD, replacing them with the appropriate non-law enforcement agencies.

“Today my colleagues and I continued our efforts on this City Council to reimagine what public safety looks like in the City of Los Angeles in order to better serve our communities, as well as our police officers,” said Council President Martinez.

Wesson and Martinez are calling the development of a systematic crisis-response plan to directly connect people in need to City, County or community-based service providers and replace police presence in non-violent, non-criminal situations with a range of unarmed service providers including medical professionals, mental health workers, homeless outreach workers and other unarmed professionals with specialized training.

“We’re seizing the moment by creating a new model of public safety that includes non-emergency, unarmed crisis professionals and community-based service providers to better meet the vast needs of our City in instances when having a weapon present would only escalate a situation.”

The motion introduced today instructs the Chief Legislative Analyst and the City Administrative Officer, with assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department and LAHSA 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 away from LAPD to the appropriate non-law enforcement agencies.