The LAPD needs more mental health professionals to help answer 911 calls, Chief Jim McDonnell told the California Post in an exclusive interview. Mayor-elect Nithya Raman has pledged to support that approach as the two seek to move past their differences and confront Los Angeles’ deepening mental health crisis.
McDonnell met with Raman on Thursday for a “get to know each other” session focused on policing and public safety. The discussion revealed common ground on one key issue: too many police officers are spending valuable time trying to assist people experiencing mental illness.
McDonnell has said that roughly “one-third” of the LAPD’s 1.45 million annual calls involve people in a mental health crisis, drawing already limited police resources into the persistent overlap between mental illness and homelessness across the city.
“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 keep his position after Raman campaigned on a promise 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 received backing from rank-and-file officers. The LAPD union first endorsed unarmed responders assisting police on mental health calls in 2020, and Mayor Bass has since expanded the effort considerably.
In 2022, Bass launched CIRCLE, short for Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement. The 24/7 unarmed response program sends trained teams to handle non-urgent LAPD calls involving homeless people.
It remains unclear whether Raman will expand that program or introduce an entirely new initiative. A spokesman 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 to accompany officers on calls. Her proposals also include adding 911 operators and conducting an audit of the LAPD.
The LAPD spends “an awful lot” of patrol time responding to people with mental health problems, McDonnell has said, because police are typically called when someone poses a threat to others.
Frustrated residents have inundated police with complaints about disruptive behavior at homeless encampments, which have become a concern in nearly every part of the city. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority estimates that about 72,000 people are homeless across LA County.
With an 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 officers to trained mental health professionals.
McDonnell agrees that psychologists and social workers may be 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, and the LAPD union endorsed the concept in 2020. The following year, the union issued 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 sensible step, particularly as the city grapples with a severe shortage of officers and fewer than 8,500 sworn members—an historically low figure—remain on the force.
“We can absolutely commit to this,” said Saggau. “Especially with the number of police officers that we have now, it just makes complete sense.”