LOS ANGELES—The city council unanimously approved $1 million March 15 to fund and create the Office of Unarmed Response and Safety, which council members said is necessary to expand the 9-8-8 suicide and crisis hotline to include an unarmed crisis response.
According to a motion by Councilors Bob Blumenfield, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Eunisses Hernandez, the new office will require at least three staff members to solely focus on the expansion of the city’s Crisis and Incident Response Community-Led Engagement program and unarmed crisis response teams.
“I know we are excited and want to have a robust network of alternative responders,”‘ Blumenfield said. “We know that when someone calls 911 at a time of crisis, the live-saving impact is about who responds and with what resources they have to respond to.”…