As the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) grapples with understaffing and slow emergency response times, the city’s police union—the Los Angeles Police Protective League representing over 9,000 sworn personnel—submitted a list this week to the Los Angeles City Council of 28 non-emergency calls that it believes should be diverted to unarmed responders.
The list—which includes nonviolent homeless and mental health-related calls—will allow officers to prioritize and respond more swiftly to critical emergencies and higher profile crimes, the union said March 1 in a statement to the media, and allow nonprofit workers and other city agencies to respond instead. The outline was sent to the city as part of its labor contract negotiations….