Major changes in LAPD responses due to the defunding budgetary cuts: Is the City prepared to face the reality of the re-imagining of LAPD?
Is the City prepared for the Reimagining of LAPD?
As community members, one of the things that we do like about LAPD is that if you call them, generally speaking, they do respond. However, with the reduced resources due to the defunding of LAPD that the City leaders approved, the reality is LAPD cannot provide the same level of service as in the past — so LAPD will be forced to make a lot of referrals to other city agencies and departments/resources.
Are these agencies and departments prepared for the onslaught of approximately service calls usually responded to by LAPD?
Our West LA Division has six (6) officers and detectives retiring in January. There are about 30 vacancies in the West LA division that have no approval to fill those positions. There will be a LAPD Department-wide exodus of 300-400 officers and staff. There has been no LAPD Academy graduating class since June (LAPD just received approval to initiate a Police Academy class beginning this month.
LAPD Policy Guidelines will be re-written that may include the following changes (some have already taken place):
• Using statistics from 2019 because 2020 figures are not available
• In 2019, LAPD responded to nearly a million radio service calls (940,000)
• Over 30% of these service calls were related to homelessness, disputes, traffic and mental issues.
• Homeless-related calls
2019 - 130,000 radio service calls
LAPD will be referring as many calls as they can to 211, the County’s resource communications center, as well as to 311, the City’s resource communications center for outside LAPD purview.
An example would be a report of a homeless person sleeping near a sidewalk (not blocking a sidewalk but perhaps up a hill a bit). Unless that person was blocking the sidewalk or engaged in some sort of crime, there is not a lot that LAPD can do in this current environment. A service call like this will be referred to 311 for a homeless advocate to go out there and try to offer services to that person.
LAPD is looking at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and other city resources.
• Other City Referrals
Some examples:
Calls regarding dogs off leash (2019 - approximately 1200 radio calls)
Illegal dumping (which is not LAPD’s preview but Bureau of Sanitation) (2019 - approximately 640 radio calls)
Department of Transportation (DOT)-related calls such as illegal parking or driveways blocked, etc. (2019 - approximately 6,000 radio calls)
LAPD will rewrite their Communications Policies to identify non-police calls and refer them to 311. Animal calls will be referred to Department of Animal Services, illegal dumping to Bureau of Sanitation, and Department of Transportation (DOT)-related calls to DOT.
LAPD’s Communications Division is in the process of training their personnel to identify those non-LAPD calls and make the appropriate referrals to 311.
Since November, Communications Division has already diverted 120 calls to other city departments for handling.
• CORS (Computerized Online Reporting System) reporting
Currently, there is reporting through the CORS reporting system. Vandalism, burglary, theft from motor vehicles are going to be added the the crimes that you can report online as long as they’re:
• Under $5,000
• Not a hate crime, domestic violence or restraining order
• No firearms involved
Vandalism CORS reporting is now online as of December 17, 2020.
The rest of the online reporting — under $5,000 burglary, theft from motor vehicles — is expected to be online by January 1, 2021.
Currently, if a victim has tried to do an online report and has evidence, for example, a vehicle break-in and they have video of that crime, the online reporting would not allow you to make that report online.
Under the new CORS system, you’ll be able to upload photos and other evidence to make it easier for you and LAPD doesn’t have to dispatch an officer. LAPD's attempt is to try to make the CORS as the primary reporting system for the department.
Traffic: In 2019 approximately 57,000 radio calls for vehicle collisions (a tremendous amount of calls). Under the new guidelines that they’re looking at implementing, they’ll be able to refer 69% of those calls to an online reporting system. The department consulted with the City Attorney and they found out that there is actually no requirement for LAPD to take any of these reports if they are not related to a crime. Traffic accident is by definition an accident — an unintentional collision of a moving conveyance. Most of the reports LAPD takes for traffic are more for insurance reports so people can report the accident to their insurance company in order to get reimbursed or go after the other driver’s insurance. LAPD going to get out of that business a little bit in order to save some time that it takes to do these.
Traffic incidents LAPD will continue to respond to — about that 31% of the total traffic calls will still require police response so that will be the following:
• Fatal traffic collision
• Severe traffic collision
• Driving under the influence (DUI)-involved collision
• City property-involved (CPI) collision
• Felony hit-and-run
It takes approximately four (4) hours for an officer to complete a report for each minor collision — that is 155,746 total hours in 2019 that LAPD spend on these types of minor traffic collision reports — another way of looking at is is approximately 15,500 number of 10-hour shifts dedicated to completion of such reports.
LAPD believes this change in policy will allow us to have more officers instead of responding to traffic collisions, they’re responding to radio calls. LAPD believes this change will allow reassignment of officers from traffic divisions and plug them back into patrol divisions so they can continue to respond to the radio calls that require police response.
THE FUTURE OF CORS: So what LAPD is planning for the future of CORS online reporting of traffic collisions on minor injury collisions, which in the past required police to respond or for you to report the traffic collision to a police officer at the station now will be allowed to be online:
• Minor Injury Collisions
- Complaint of pain—called a “C-injury report” — possible injury
- Visible injury —called a B-injury report” — observation of a bruise or a sprain or injuries of that nature— not an injury that requires hospitalization like a broken bones, etc.
In the future, when LAPD changes the system to where almost 70% traffic reports going on to the online system, LAPD traffic divisions will then have the ability to handle all of the traffic reports. Currently, the primary handler of traffic collisions is actually the area’s officers — with the expansion of CORS, the LAPD experts who are in the Traffic Divisions will handle basically all the more serious reports. This will allow LAPD to focus on Department priorities.
• Crime Stoppers (Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers “LARCS”)
Another policy change LAPD is looking at to reimagine the Department is to rely on Crime Stoppers (https://www.lacrimestoppers.org ) — a non-profit organization working with law enforcement agencies and the Media to help solve crimes — which would be when a report that someone, for example, is selling narcotics out of an apartment building. A shady guy who hangs out — with people observed coming and going from an apartment and a citizen suspects someone is selling narcotics. Currently, this would be a call to the non-emergency number - 1-877-ASK-LAPD. LAPD will now refer the caller to Crime Stoppers to make that tip so LAPD’s narcotics officers will have 30 days to respond to that report instead of LAPD patrol officers responding—basically responding on the very day the report called in.
Vice: The same goes for vice activity so if there is not a report of a lewd act in progress, for example, a report that someone drinking in public, or something less than a lewd act in progress, LAPD vice officers will have to refer these calls to Crime Stoppers as well. The Communications Division will be referring many of these types of calls to Crime Stoppers and that means service would be changed from a immediate response to just a 30-day follow-up.
• Mental Illness
Another big category. In 2019, LAPD responded to over 20,000 radio calls involving person suffering from mental illness or a mental health crisis.
The City has funded a program called the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Crisis Call Center. It’s going to be operating from 12:00 to 8:00 PM/7 days a week so it’s limited hours. But LAPD hopes to funnel most of the calls involving mental illness or persons suffering a mental health crisis into that call center to let them try to talk people through whatever issues they have.
Suicides: There are approximately 8,500 suicide calls per year.
Police will still respond to someone who is on top of a building or on a bridge and saying they’re going to jump, someone who needs medical attention, suicide in progress, a weapon in public (of course) or crime involved (brandishing or assault with a deadly weapon - ADW).
LAPD will not be responding to — and this is why there is a delineation of weapon in public — if someone were to call LAPD to say I want to kill myself, and I have a gun — but they’re inside their own house — and the operator asks do you have any other household members in the house and if they say no, the police will probably not respond to that call initially — LAPD will most likely be refer the caller to the Didi Hirsch Call Center. If the call center determines police dispatch is required/needed, that call can be referred back to LAPD for response.
Therapeutic vans (IN THE PLANNING STAGE NOW): There is funding for “therapeutic vans” which apparently the city funded five (5) vans citywide that will be staffed with an EMT and a mental health worker. The City has originally talked to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) about staffing that and apparently they dropped out of that discussion (I don’t know what that means exactly) but it looks like the LAFD is going to contract with civilian EMTs rather than their fire department EMTs to staff those therapeutic vans.
Something to consider: WILL five (5) therapeutic vans are going to handle all the mental illness/mental crisis calls received into 911?
A couple of press releases on the therapeutic vans pilot program to replace LAPD response to mental illness calls:
LA Co Dept of Mental Health “Los Angeles County and City Official Reveal New Joint Crisis Response system for Mental Health Alternatives to Law Enforcement: New Therapeutic Transportation Pilot Program will begin January 1, 2021 and be studied as a means to effectively triage emergency responses for those experiencing a mental health crisis”
ABC7: “LA city, county roll out pilot program to send unarmed responders to mental health incidents”
https://abc7.com/therapeutic-transportation-pilot-program-unarmed-mental-health-response/7370778/
Since 1993, LAPD does their best to respond to a mental health crisis with their SMART units (Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team). LAPD will continue to do this type of co-response.
SMART & LAPD: https://www.lapdonline.org/detective_bureau/content_basic_view/51704
• Death Investigations
In 2019, there were over 5,000 responses from LAPD to death investigations.
• Medical related facilities (300) - now there will be no response — typically, LAPD has to go to the facility, look at the body and determine no foul play, etc. That is probably a call that LAPD won’t respond to anymore. For example, if someone dies at a hospital or a nursing home, LAPD probably won’t be responding to as long as a doctor is willing to sign off that a person died of natural causes.
• Personal Residence with Medical Assistance - LAFD response (like a heart attack) and the person dies, the FD will be able to tell LAPD that the person died of a heart attack.
• Unnatural or exposed in public — if there is a natural death or if someone dies due to exposure. For example, if someone dies on the side of the road or on the sidewalk, LAPD will respond to those kind of calls.
• Disputes
2019 - had over 50,000 dispute radio calls
LAPD trying to figures out how many of these will be referred to other city entities BUT LAPD will still respond to domestic violence disputes as they are inherently dangerous. There is a danger of those types of disputes escalating to violence in nearly all the situations. Whether violence manifests itself or not — the danger is there.
LAPD will co-respond with a social welfare agency if the level of danger cannot be assess by the Radio Telephone Operator “RTO” (aka the 911 operator).
Challenges: Social Welfare response or referral to dispute resolution — no social welfare agency exists with response capacity of 24/7/365.
• Juvenile
Parents who are at the end of their rope with their juveile will often call the police. LAPD often functions as marriage counselors, parenting coaches, and teachers but will have to find other resources to respond to this category of calls. This is unfortunate because LAPD does make a difference after they talk to some of these kids and their parents. This will now be a missed opportunity.
THIS INFORMATION IS FROM NOTES TAKEN BY THE BEL-AIR ASSOCIATION C-PAB REPRESENTATIVE AT THE DECEMBER 16, 2020 WEST LA C-PAB MEETING.