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Appendix 3: LGBTQIA+ and Queer/Trans Listening Session
The Pacific Center for Human Growth,
a LGBTQIA+ and Queer/Trans Behavioral Health Provider located in Berkeley80
The Pacific Center for Human Growth, or namely the Pacific Center, is the largest regional LGBTQIA+ behavioral health provider serving LGBTQIA+ people, Queer and Trans people including QTBIPOC, with individual, peer support, and community behavioral health programs and services. Located in Berkeley, the Center is designed to serve LGBTQIA+ people with mild to moderate behavioral health needs from Berkeley and other cities in Alameda County. Currently, the Pacific Center operates remotely due to COVID.
The findings below reflect conversations with five Berkeley behavioral health provider staff, all of whom work with the LGBTQIA+ and Queer/Trans community. Of the five providers, two identify as genderqueer, and two identify as BIPOC. Two of the individuals expressed that as QTBIPOC folx, they have more lived experience with police interactions as individuals than as clinicians but did their best to only speak of experiences encountered as service providers.
Listening Session Findings
● LGBTQIA+ members define and explore their lived experiences in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, and other identity markers to convey understanding about the impacts of policing on their public safety—which is different from solely racial, ethnic, and heterosexual norms.
● On the topic of intersectionality, one staff member explained the importance of factoring in additional identity markers by saying “if you do not have lived experience, it is hard to conceptualize how positionality—how you present to the world— changes everything.”
● The types of violence happening for LGBTQIA+ people are defined by one provider in terms of hot and cold violence, and it is noted that they commented Trans Femme Black and Brown people as most susceptible.
o Hot violence is “immediate, active, perceptible violence that touches you.
It can be physical or verbal, very loud, aggressive, and immediately unsafe. Hot violence can change the dynamic in the situation instantly.”
o “Cold violence is a more underlying source of violence than hot violence, and is more than a microaggression, like an intentional microaggression.
An example is a Queer Trans BIPOC looking for an appropriate bathroom
80 By Margaret Fine and Janavi Dhyani. Margaret is the Chair of the Mental Health Commission for the City of Berkeley. Janavi is the Director of Operations for the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients
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and being surveilled by police. Cold violence reflects the way in which systems are set up by police to surveil and monitor human behavior where it does not feel safe to move around fear freely.”
● This LGBTQIA+ provider further highlighted the critical need to have a nuanced understanding of how Queer and Trans people, particularly QTBIPOC people, describe their lived experiences with policing and crisis response. There is a need to understand their levels of distress and how crisis first responders met their needs for “safety” or do not meet them.
o This provider discussed the role of police and how there may be psychological impacts as a result of the mere presence of police, and/or further escalation of a crisis due to the presence or role of the police. She discussed the trauma as: “I think of families, [a police presence is] traumatic for everyone, police show up, it makes a huge scene for the neighborhood, flashing lights, and then having to unpack it with families, clients….”
o One provider, who was very explicit about their feelings about the police, said: “I stay away from the Berkeley Police Department and advise young people to do the same. The Berkeley Police Department are not my friends, they are not people who I trust as an entity, and not people I say should be called for help.
There are difficult situations in which there is a Queer Black Femme Cis Woman and warm violence, but the person does not want to call the police. Every single interaction will not lead to hot violence, but we know statistically that Queer Trans BIPOC people with mental health issues, who are disabled or developmentally challenged, are far more likely to experience violence, be harmed, and be killed.”
● The Pacific Center, as an LGBTQIA+ space, can challenge notions of “safe” space for Queer and Trans people who are seeking a sense of belonging because of violence to the physical building and to people at the Pacific Center.
● More than one provider talked about the lack of Queer and Trans “safe” spaces in the community-at-large, especially for transgender women of color, unhoused, youth, and BIPOC.
● The LGBTQIA+ provider also discussed the conceptualization of “public safety” or “community safety” as not related to the police but rather to people having sufficient resources and support in order to have their basic human needs met and stable life existence.
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Discussion
This LGBTQIA+ provider brought up the importance of intersectionality when talking about the police response, and additional identity markers that statistically place QTBIPOC people at risk—which is different from factors based solely on race and ethnicity and reflects non-binary gender identity and expression and non-heterosexual orientation. This provider indicated that the role of police would be that they support services to the community, especially LGBTQIA+ police officers supporting LGBTQIA+ community members. There have been hate crimes by people outside of the community that can be perceived as violently challenging the legitimacy of LGBTQIA+ people, as well as a negative incident from a person within the community who did not feel as though they were served.
Recommendations
● Currently, the LGBTQ+ liaison for the Berkeley Police Department has reviewed the LGBTQIA+ Listening Session Report and is working on a collaboration with the staff for the Pacific Center for Human Growth in order to address challenges in the community.
● There is a need for an established partnership between the Division of Mental Health for the City of Berkeley and the Pacific Center for Human Growth in order to ensure training and service delivery to LGBTQIA+ clients that are culturally safe and responsive. There is also a need for collaboration among service providers to become more well-integrated with coordinated services tailored to meet client needs, including ones that are culturally safe and responsive.
● There is a considerable need for behavioral health workers, such as clinicians, case managers, peer specialists, and peer navigators, who can directly guide LGBTQIA+ clients in navigating multiple systems—particularly given the shortage of case management services available from community-based organizations in Berkeley.
Bibliography: LGBTQIA+ People/Queer & Trans People and Policing
Addrain Conyers and Calhoun, T.C. (2020). Deviance Today. New York, NY: Routledge (See Chapter 11, “Deviance in Policing & the Mistreatment of LGBTQ People of Color” by Professor Tia Sheree Gaynor & Dr. Brandi Blessett).
Blair Woods, J., Galvan, F. H., Bazargan, M., Herman, J. L., Chen, Y. (2013). Latina transgender women’s interaction with law enforcement in Los Angeles County. Policing:
A Journal of Policy and Practice, 7(4), 379–391. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/policing/article-abstract/7/4/379/1541655
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Daum, C.W. (2019). Violence Against and Policing of LGBTQ Communities: A Historical Perspective. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1221 Failing to Protect and Serve: Police Department Policies Towards Transgender People, Review of 17 largest cities in the United States. Available at: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/FTPS_FR_v3.pdf
Hanssens, C., Ritchie, A.J. and Streetwise (2014). A Road Map for Change Federal Policy Recommendations for Addressing the Criminalization of LGBT People and People Living with HIV. Available
at: https://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/gender- sexuality/files/roadmap_for_change_full_report.pdf
Hunt, J. and Moodie-Mills, A. (2012). The Unfair Criminalization of Gay and Transgender Youth: An Overview of the Experiences of LGBT Youth in the Juvenile Justice System. Available at: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp- content/uploads/issues/2012/06/pdf/juvenile_justice.pdf.
Lambda Legal. (2014). Police: Protected and Served? New York, NY. Retrieved from https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/publications/downloads/ps_executiv e-summary.pdf (executive summary)
Leonore F. Carpenter and R. Barrett Marshall (2017). Walking While Trans: Profiling of Transgender Women by Law Enforcement and the Problem of Proof, 24 Wm. & Mary J.
Women & L. 5 https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol24/iss1/3
Robinson, B.A. (2020). The Lavender Scare in Homonormative Times: Policing, Hyper- incarceration, and LGBTQ Youth Homelessness. Gender & Society, 34(2), pp. 210– 232. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243220906172
Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.lgbtmap.org/file/lgbt-criminal-justice.pdf
Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law (2020) Violence and Law Enforcement Interactions with LGBT People in the US. Available
at: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/violence-law-lgbt-us/
Written Testimony of Lambda Legal for the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. (2020). Highlights the disproportionate levels of violence and abuse that LGBTQ people, especially LGBTQ people of color, experience in the U.S. criminal legal system. Available at: https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/legal- docs/downloads/20200608_written-testimony-presidents-commission-law-enforcement- administration-justice.pdf
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Bibliography: LGBTQIA+ People/Queer & Trans People and Mental Health/Substance Use
(2018). [online] Suicide Risk and Prevention for LGBTQ People Available at: https://www.lgbtqiahealtheducation.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/10/Suicide-Risk- and-Prevention-for-LGBTQ-Patients-Brief.pdf
Abuse, N.I. on D. (2017). Substance Use and SUDs in LGBTQ* Populations. [online] National Institute on Drug Abuse. Available
at: https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugtopics/substance-use-suds-in-lgbtq-populations.
CASAT OnDemand. (2019). Equitable Substance Use Disorder Treatment for LGBTQ Populations: Research, Tools, and Resources for Behavioral Health Providers. [online] Available at: https://casatondemand.org/2019/12/19/4489/
Fraser, B., Pierse, N., Chisholm, E. and Cook, H. (2019). LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(15), p.2677. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695950/
Hopper, R. (2017). Prevalence and Odds of Serious Mental Illness among Homeless LGBT Youth and Young Adults in Atlanta. Public Health Theses. [online] Available at:
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/iph_theses/494/
Human Services for Low-Income and At-Risk LGBT Populations: An Assessment of the Knowledge Base and Research Needs. (2014). [online] Available at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/lgbt_hsneeds_assessment_reportfina l 1_12_15.pdf
Kidd, S.A., Howison, M., Pilling, M., Ross, L.E. and McKenzie, K. (2016). Severe Mental Illness in LGBT Populations: A Scoping Review. Psychiatric Services, 67(7), pp.779– 783. Available at: https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201500209
LGBTQ Youth of Color Impacted by the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems. [online] Williams Institute, the leading research center on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.
Available at: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbtq-yoc-socialservices/
Mental Health and the LGBTQ Community, LGBTQ Youth and Mental Health. Human Rights Campaign. Available
at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/LGBTQ_MentalHealt h_OnePager.pdf.
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O’Connor, L., Pleskach, P. and Yanos, P. (2018). The Experience of Dual Stigma and Self- Stigma Among LGBTQ Individuals with Severe Mental Illness. Numbers 1-2, Spring-Summer. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, [online] 21, pp.167– 187. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/759951/pdf.
Ross, L.E., Gibson, M.F., Daley, A., Steele, L.S. and Williams, C.C. (2018). In spite of the system: A qualitatively-driven mixed methods analysis of the mental health services experiences of LGBTQ people living in poverty in Ontario, Canada. PLOS ONE, 13(8), p.e0201437.
The Trevor Project. (2019). Research Brief: Suicide Attempts among LGBTQ Youth of Color – The Trevor Project. [online] Available at:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/2019/11/26/research-brief-suicide-attempts- amonglgbtq-youth-of-color/
Voicesofyouthcount.org. (2011). Missed Opportunities: LGBTQ Youth Homel essness in America – Voices of Youth Count, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago. [online] Available at: https://voicesofyouthcount.org/brief/lgbtq-youth-homelessness/
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Appendix 4: PEERS Listening Session for People Living
with Behavioral Health Challenges81
The PEERS listening session included 12 participants who shared their lived experiences with behavioral health challenges and policing in Berkeley. Before this listening session, there was extensive outreach by the Associate Director for the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients [describe methodology].
● Generally, the participants spoke about their interactions and perceptions of Berkeley police, and how that impacts their feelings of “safety” in their community as Peers. Primarily they expressed their fears, based on lived experiences, interacting with police during a mental health crisis in the community, and how a policing response generally had a negative impact on their ability to feel “safe” in Berkeley.
● Peers offered several recommendations about how they would like to experience “safety” including increasing their involvement as responders to mental health crises. It is noteworthy that additional research with peers would be highly useful to account for the role of race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, class, and other factors, and their impact on a policing response to a mental health crisis.
Findings:
● Individuals stated they did not desire to call 911 emergency services for fear of police response to a person experiencing a mental health crisis in the community. One person did not feel proud of their decision to call 911, knowing that police would arrive but did so because they did not feel like they had alternative options to provide that person with appropriate support. She stated:
“I've had to call the police on people with mental health issues and it broke my heart and that is something I would not like to do.”
● The main emerging themes from the PEERS Listening Session focused on their perceptions and experiences about 1) feeling stigmatized as “public safety threats” and regarded so by officers; 2) officers unease connecting with people experiencing a mental health crisis; 3) the role of de-escalation if any; and 4) feeling traumatized or re-traumatized by police during mental health crises.
81 By Janavi Dhyani and Margaret Fine. Janavi is the Director of Operations for the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients. Margaret is the Chair of the Mental Health Commission for the City of Berke ley.
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● PEERS felt perceived as “public safety threats” by police.
o PEERS discussed their perceptions and feelings about being seen as “public safety threats;” and generally as something to be controlled rather than human beings who need emotional “safety” to resolve their crisis. In particular, the participants expressed their fears of being met with police violence instead of with compassion and empathy for their plights.
o The notion of “safety” ranged from people feeling exceedingly vulnerable and “unsafe” while experiencing a mental health crisis in the community to a wide variety of crisis responses (based on actions, words, physical harm, and/or lack of response/over response) by police to them. Overall participants mentioned that most people experiencing a mental health crisis are not violent.
● PEERS perceived officers as uneasy about connecting with people experiencing a mental health crisis and potentially escalating a crisis
o Participants discussed their experiences interacting with officers. One participant commented that Berkeley police are “not ready to deal with people who are upset with emotional disturbances,” and that people in crisis “don’t need violence when people are angry” to resolve their crisis.
Another participant felt the police “get scared of mental health” and said they “need to not be afraid of people, people who are eccentric.”
o In addition, another participant expressed concern that “some cops [do] not feel safe…don’t speak a whole lot.” She commented about feeling “really uneasy” when you need “someone to talk more, like hostage negotiator, convey sort of friendship and comradery.” She discussed seeing someone “high energy, manic, talking real fast, as an opportunity for a person in the crisis to grow rather than shut down with drugs, incarceration, hospitalization,” and stated, “we need to learn, develop a field of knowledge of people in altered states.”
o This participant further underscored that police officer “use major tool like [a] gun and bullets; something startles them, go for the gun.” The point was further underscored by another participant, who stated based on their experience with police, “that it is always with guns; it’s a threat, always a threat of violence out there, the police come with their guns,” and that we are “much better served with people not heavily armed, I don’t know how I think the conversation and non-violent tactics.”
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● PEERS feeling traumatized or re-traumatized by police during mental health crises
o One participant stated that “many people have negative feelings on police” and when they see police “it can be triggering, it can be negative, not friendly, open.” Another participant “witnessed police in action in Berkeley,” and said they did not want police on mental health calls, as they were traumatized to the point of seeing police in a “whole different light.” Yet another participant stated, “So many of us have been harmed when we are treated when we are in crisis.”
o Participants further talked about how the presence of police could exacerbate the intensity of personal distress and create feelings of extreme terror and instant fear of extinction, as opposed to creating ones of emotional “safety.” While the participant did not describe the basis for officers’ arriving at the scene, he described his feelings about a police response by stating “it is multiple police cruisers, you feel like the world out to get you and annihilate you, officers are intimidating, 3-4 cruisers with multiple cops, very, very troubling and high-risk situation.” This feeling of being responded to, instead of being met with, is a sentiment 61 Appendix J people shared.
Behavioral Health Recommendations:
● Include PEERS in Developing Behavioral Health Responses
PEERS indicated that the first and most important recommendation is outreach and inclusion of PEERS who have worked on behavioral health reforms since the 1990s, when this movement began. There are trained Peers who are invaluable to developing responses to behavioral health crises and supporting the transition to new systems of safety in Berkeley.
PEERS are crucial for unpacking the scope and nature of mental health crises to provide a nuanced understanding, approach, and framework for responding with appropriate levels of care to people with behavioral health challenges in the community--particularly for a non-police crisis response such as a Specialized Care Unit (SCU).
● Sufficiently Fund & Support Behavioral Health Respite Centers
Drop-in and wellness centers for people living with behavioral health challenges need sufficient funding and staff with full-time Peer Support Specialists where individuals experiencing non-threatening altered states and/or behavioral health crises can move through their crisis is a safe and supported state.
It is further essential to have availability 24/7 and on holidays, and to involve PEERS in the transit from the behavioral health crisis to the Peer staffed drop-
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in/wellness center. Peer Navigators are also key to assisting people in navigating complex systems, including how to get appropriate services in the City of Berkeley and Alameda County.
● Have a Reconciliation Process with People Living with Behavioral Health Challenges and Police
There is a need for a reconciliation process with police, particularly as a response to traumatic experiences with police. A reconciliation process, as well as a restorative justice process, with people living with behavioral health challenges may help build trust and rapport with police officers in the future.
● Clarify the Risk Assessment by Call Takers, Dispatchers, and Police for Behavioral Health
There is a need for clarification about how Public Dispatch Operators and the police use their discretion to make decisions about “public safety threats.” It is not clear if the current protocol is designed to not only determine if someone is a “danger to themselves or others,” or “gravely disabled” to meet the standard for a 5150 involuntary hold, and/or if the assessment offers a more nuanced evaluation for persons who do not meet this standard, particularly to assist with next steps in care if needed.
● Improve De-Escalation Training for Police & Offer Public Education on Behavioral Health
There is a need for additional de-escalation training for law enforcement and public education about connecting with community members who interact with the world differently than they do—including using peers as part of training.
● Account for Overlapping Systems of Care for People Living with Mental Health Challenges
There is a need to account for overlapping systems of care, including medical, behavioral health (mental health, substance use), social services, and other systems. Participants in the Peers Listening Session, who identify with homelessness, discussed how current systems are not set up in a way that enables long-term sustainable wellness of the behavioral health community.
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● Further Research Recommendations
o Peers indicated the need to explore the types of human behaviors that meet the 5150 standards and/or constitute criminal behavior, as opposed to other behaviors that may not fall within social norms but do not pose a threat to the public to inform mental health crisis response.
o There is a specific critical need to explore the degree to which police approach a distressed person and defuse the situation versus using coercion, particularly during 5150 assessments—both alone and co- responding with the mobile crisis unit.
o It is further important to clarify the levels and types of personal distress, and how they impact functioning according to Peers who are living with behavioral health challenges, and the types of crisis response that work for them in the community.
o There is an essential need to explore how a Peer can feel “safe” transitioning from experiencing a crisis in the community to a respite space with the support of a Peer specialist and/or other responders, as opposed to feeling treated as dangerous and in need of social control and being subdued.
o There is a need to explore perceptions and experiences of people living with behavioral health challenges to better understand the nature of stigmatization, and how it impacts a policing and mobile crisis response, especially when addressing intersecting identities of Peers based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, and expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, class, and other factors.
o Homelessness: Research with people living with behavioral health and housing challenges could further inform how homelessness impacts the nature of people’s mental health challenges, and the type of services needed. Participants generally described the grinding efforts needed to survive, including constantly dealing with lack of necessities and fear of having their household belongings abruptly discarded and the accumulation of additional impacts on their mental health.
o Homelessness: It is important to indicate that further research is needed with the unhoused population to understand the intersecting nature of mental health and substance use challenges and homelessness, particularly to explore the nature of policing and crisis response and whether the systemic responses are service-oriented and/or designed to stigmatize and criminal human behavior or both.
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o Substance Use: There is a further need to conduct research with people who use alcohol and drugs and have lived experiences with policing and mobile crisis response, as this qualitative research focused almost solely on people living with behavioral health challenges.
It is crucial to consider the nature of trauma-informed, de-escalation, and harm reduction approaches for people who use alcohol and drugs during crisis response in order to discern how service-oriented practices may reduce harms from alcohol and drug use and avoid punitive measures resulting from criminal legal, and incarcerations involvement due to alcohol and drug use.
Specifically, there is a need to assess how systemic responses to people who use alcohol and drugs may result in fluctuating among multiple systems without well-integrated coordination of care.
o Overall crisis response to people experiencing behavioral health challenges in the community requires a commitment to conducting empirical research that is nuanced so we understand the complexities required to properly serve and protect individuals. The role of police during a mental health crisis is a turning point for people with behavioral health challenges in the community and there is a need to thoroughly understand police behavior.
For more information regarding the effectiveness of Peer Support work in behavioral health care services, the following literature review has been provided:
Mahlke, Candelaria I.a; Krämer, Ute M.b; Becker, Thomasc; Bock, Thomasa “Peer support in mental health services, Current Opinion in Psychiatry:: July 2014 - Volume 27 - Issue 4 - p 276-281 DOI:
10.1097/YCO.0000000000000074 (https://journals.lww.com/co- psychiatry/Abstract/2014/07000/Peer_support_in_m
ental_health_services.7.aspx)
Duckworth, Kennetha,b; Halpern, Lisac “Peer support and peer-led family support for persons living with schizophrenia”, Current Opinion in Psychiatry: May 2014 - Volume 27 - Issue 3 - p 216-221 DOI: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000051 (https://journals.lww.com/co-psychiatry/Abstract/2014/05000/Peer_support_and_ peer_led_family_support_for.10.aspx)
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Matthew Chinman, Preethy George, Richard H. Dougherty, Allen S.
Daniels, Sushmita Shoma Ghose, Anita Swift, and Miriam E. Delphin- Rittmon “Peer Support Services for Individuals With Serious Mental Illnesses: Assessing the Evidence” Psychiatric Services 2014 65:4, 429- 441
(https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.20130 0244)
Daniels, A.S., Bergeson, S., Fricks, L., Ashenden, P. and Powell, I. (2012), "Pillars of peer support: advancing the role of peer support specialists in promoting recovery", The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 60-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/17556221211236457
Carolina Vélez-Grau, Ana Stefancic, Leopoldo J Cabassa, Keeping the Peer in Peer Specialist When Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions, Health & Social Work, Volume 44, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 57–60, https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hly037
Fortuna K, Myers A, Walsh D, Walker R, Mois G, Brooks J, Strategies to Increase Peer Support Specialists’ Capacity to Use Digital Technology in the Era of COVID-19: Pre- Post Study JMIR Mental Health 2020;7(7):e20429 URL:
https://mental.jmir.org/2020/7/e20429 DOI:
10.2196/20429
Barrenger, S. L., Maurer, K., Moore, K. L., & Hong, I. (2020). Mental health recovery: Peer specialists with mental health and incarceration experiences. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90(4), 479–488. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000450
Mead, Shery, and Cheryl MacNeil. "Peer support: What makes it unique." International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation 10.2 (2006): 29-37 (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.584.6618&rep= rep1&t ype=pdf)
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Appendix 5: Training and Community Solutions (TCS) Institute Training Topics
• Mental Health First Aid
• Principles of trauma-informed care, response, and practices • Supporting residents experiencing symptoms.
• Considerations and tools when supporting youth and elders. • Safety planning and advanced directives for mental health episodes • Suicide identification, risk screening, and intervention skills • Potential Providers: Cypress Resiliency Project, Alameda County Community Mental Health Trainings
• Responding to Substance Use Crises
• Principles of harm reduction
• Managing possible overdose situations
• Harm reduction resources
• Substance abuse & misuse: symptoms, understanding pharmacology and negative interactions
• Symptoms and types of mental illness, brain injury, or dementia • Potential Provider: Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration
• Conflict Resolution, Mediation, Communication & De-escalation Training • Peer support - principles of practice and effectiveness • De-escalation, disengagement, and conflict mediation
• Communication principles and methods
• Implicit Bias - recognizing, overcoming
• Identifying behavior impacted by trauma and support mechanisms • Identifying and overcoming communication barriers
• Potential Provider: CIT Trainings with NAMI
• Basic Training
• CPR
• Stop the Bleed
• First Aid
• Blood-borne Pathogens Training
• Team Safety and Logistics
• Planning and Positioning for Safety
• Scene Assessment and Situational Awareness
• Interacting with BPD, BFD & EMS and understanding protocols of each • Transport of Service Recipients
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• Documentation and Reporting
• Privacy, Confidentiality, HIPAA Compliance
Self-Awareness
ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) training (Potential Provider: ACEs Aware) Mindfulness based Resilience Training & Meditation
Know Your Conflict Style ~ Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument Community-specific Competency – cultural humility in serving: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, immigrants, veterans, formerly incarcerated, unhoused, youth, elders
Kingian Nonviolence Training
A philosophy and methodology that provides the knowledge, skills, and motivation necessary for people to pursue peaceful strategies for solving personal and community problems. Nonviolence is a systematic framework of both conceptual principles and pragmatic strategies to reduce violence and promote positive peace.
Potential Provider: East Point Peace Academy
Community Health Worker/Peer Counseling Skills
What services exist, what they do, who is eligible, and how they are accessed
Referral process
• City and county emergency response programs
• City and county resources
• Community-based and mutual aid services
• Motivational Interviewing
Trauma Training
• Navigating mental health crisis, substance crisis, DV crisis, • Human Trafficking, Victims of Sexual Assault Awareness • Historical and Intergenerational Trauma - A Public Health Crisis (90 minutes offered by Cypress Resiliency Project)
• Vicarious Trauma, Toxic Stress and Burn-out (90 minutes offered by Cypress Resiliency Project)
• Case Scenario & Role Play Work
• Recreate Mental Health Crises to test trainees in real time • Simulations/manufactured spaces to test readiness and appropriate disposition of trainees
• Ride Alongs
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• BPD
• BFD Paramedics
• City of Berkeley Dispatch
• Paul Kealoha Blake of Consider the Homeless
• Self-Care Plan Established
• Each first responder has a mentor/preceptor for X period of time for support • Identify tangible practices first responder will employ to maintain their ongoing mental & emotional well being
• Create an actual plan
What metrics determine a successful completion of the training?
1. Successfully complete all modules with certificate
2. Successfully engage in simulations by responding appropriately in simulated crisis scenarios
3. Determine a way to gauge service recipients’ experience, modify training to improve overall service delivery
For police officers:
1. EPIC (Ethical Policing is Courageous)
Resources:
Peace Education by Ian Harris of University of Wisconsin Alameda County Citizen Programs & Crime Prevention
CA Peace Officer Standards & Training Basic Courses
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Appendix 6: Community Violence & Prevention Programs
1. San Francisco Violence Prevention Services:
https://violenceprevention.sfgov.org/
2. Street Violence Intervention Team: Annual Report 2018
3. Street Violence Response Team:
https://violenceprevention.sfgov.org/coordination.html
4. Youth Employment/Growth Opportunities:
https://violenceprevention.sfgov.org/employment.html
5. Roadmap to Peace Initiative - SF
6. PDF Pamphlet:
https://sfgov.org/juvprobation/sites/default/files/Roadmap%20To%20Peace%20In itiative.pdf
7. Website: https://www.ifrsf.org/rtp?locale=en
8. United Playaz - SF
9. Program Lists: https://unitedplayaz.org/our-work/
10. Notably, leads SF’s Gun Buyback program
11. Annual event
12. Employs formerly incarcerated individuals and community members
13. Anywhere between 200-300 weapons taken off the streets per event
14. Cash paid for pistols and long-firearms
15. No questions asked of participants dropping off firearms
16. Weapons are taken in for inspection and destroyed shortly after unless reported stolen or used in a crime and kept as evidence
17. Deep partnership with community organizations and San Francisco City Departments to ensure success
18. Oakland Violence Prevention Coalition (VPC), Oakland
19. https://www.oaklandvpc.org/
20. Multiple community-based initiatives working collaboratively including street/neighborhood outreach, violence prevention/mediation and post-shooting response, community healing/restorative justice, Neighborhood Impact Hubs, health services, shelter/housing responses
21. Cure Violence - New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia
22. Report: https://cvg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Cure-Violence-Evidence- Summary.pdf
23. Reductions of
24. 45% violent crime (Trinidad)
25. 63% shootings (New York City)
26. 30% shootings (Philadelphia)
27. 45% shooting in first week of program (Chicago)
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28. Advance Peace - Sacramento
29. Report: https://www.advancepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Corburn- and-F-Lopez-Advance-Peace-Sacramento-2-Year-Evaluation-03-2020.pdf
30. Data:
31. Reduced homicide and nonfatal injury shootings by 20% from January 2018 and 2019
32. Every $1 spent saved between $18 and $41 dollars in emergency response, health care, and law enforcement - saving the city money!
33. Group Violence Intervention Strategies - Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, Stockton
34. Reduced shootings that result in injustice by 30%
35. Report: https://nnscommunities.org/impact/impact/
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Appendix 7: Strategy for Employment Programs
Employment Programs that Work for High Barrier Job Seekers including Those At Risk of Justice System Involvement or Homelessness
A Transitional Jobs strategy lowers barriers to unemployment for persons with complex challenges including homelessness. Offering whole person case management services with solid referrals into safety net services increases the chance of success. It is also important that participating in the program leads to permanent employment opportunities with livable wages and benefits.
• Examples of Transitional Job Training Careers
• Culinary and Food Preparation
• CNA – Certified Nursing Assistant
• Home Care Aide
• Administrative
• Customer Service
• Solar Installation
• Auto Mechanic
• Gardening and Landscaping
• Maintenance and Janitorial
• Construction
• Violence Prevention / Peer to Peer Role Models
• Clean City Programs / Street Ambassadors
• Youth mentor
• Security Guard
• Shelter Assistant
Example of Local Employment and Training Programs
• Rising Sun Center for Opportunity (risingsunopp.org)
• Kitchen on Fire
• The Bread Project
• Sprouts Cooking Club | Cooking Classes | Chef-In-Training Program (sproutscheftraining.org)
• Home | West Oakland Job Resource Center (wojrc.org)
• https://www.oaklandca.gov/services/assets (employment for seniors) • Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) Career Training and Employment Center for justice involved individuals
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• City of Berkeley Adult School CTE Program Pathways - Google Docs • Employment Programs – Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay (eastbaygoodwill.org)
• Environmental Training Center | Berkeley Youth Alternatives (byaonline.org) Environmental Training Center for ages 16-24
• Inter-City Services Home (icsworks.com)
• Multicultural Institute Multicultural Institute (mionline.org) support day laborers find economic security and housing
North Cities One Stop Career Center – inside of Berkeley Adult School
Complementary Educational Classes
• English As a Second Language
• English and Math Literacy
• Adult Basic Education and GED classes
• Computer Technologies Program - Berkeley, CA (ctpberk.org) • DigitalLearn Digital Learning – basic computer skills to navigate word processing programs, the Internet for job search and resume creation
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Appendix 8: SOS Program (Richmond Model)
SOS Richmond and Rebuilding Together: A Model STREETS TEAM for homeless encampment engagement
Safe Organized Spaces Richmond (SOS), a program of Rebuilding Together East Bay- North (RTEBN), will collaborate with project partners/subcontractors, the City of Richmond departments, other public agencies, and private entities to provide outreach and support unsheltered people who reside in homeless encampments across the City of Richmond.
RTEBN is a local 501c3 nonprofit that has been serving the community since 1992 with a focus on community revitalization. RTEBN will host this effort by providing its management and administrative services and will charge a 10% administration fee as well as provide the services of its Executive Director to oversee all administrative aspects of the SOS programs. RTEBN will provide the organizational infrastructure and capacity needed to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the programs. It will also provide leadership for fund and programs development and facilitate SOS Richmond’s growth to become a fully functioning stand-alone organization.
SOS Richmond has been operational since 2019 and uniquely focuses its mission on improving safety and providing essential care for homeless encampment dwellers in informal structures and unhoused vehicle-dwelling households on city streets and other unsupported locations. The Area Director will direct the development and operation of the Streets Team for daytime encampment and neighborhood engagement and provision of basic amenities, and for nighttime neighborhood responses related to public safety and quality of life issues. He will also coordinate activities to support forthcoming interim sheltering programs.
Program partners are other Richmond organizations that will be subcontracted to provide services such as: staff training for workforce readiness, professional skills, and personal development; food and water distribution; community and leadership development; toilets, hand washing stations, and other amenities and infrastructure; and other essential encampment-based and interim sheltering supports.
SOS Richmond’s programs address situations in which homeless people are living in conditions that are unacceptable for all concerned by providing resources to address immediate situations, and providing the support needed for people to take responsibility for their surroundings and ultimately obtain safe transitional shelter and a pathway to permanent housing.
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The Streets Team is a workforce development program that employs homeless individuals to fill a critical gap for improvement of unsafe conditions for the health and security of unhoused populations and neighbors impacted by homelessness.
Employees participate in life skills and employment-related sessions to promote mainstream behaviors for the purpose of enabling them to build on skills and develop a work history for eventual employment elsewhere.
The Streets Team responds to homelessness at parks, freeways, train tracks, creeks and on neighborhood streets at key locations throughout Richmond.
Fifteen paid unhoused individuals currently serve as neighborhood stewards and role models who lead essential safety and health efforts in encampments. They are afforded access to more hours, responsibilities, and opportunities for advancement. The additional resources afforded by this contract will enable SOS! Richmond to scale up to as many as 60 paid employees and interns.
The Streets Team will provide outreach through the provision of trash cleanup, sanitation and hygiene interventions, empowerment processes, and community liaison services that lead to improved encampment and neighborhood conditions. Community- integrated efforts will engage public, nonprofit, community-based and business sectors to leverage basic amenities for encampment residents, address individual and community needs at encampments, and improve relationships between encampment communities and the neighborhoods where encampments are located.
The Streets Team will be supervised by two Field Supervisors. The daytime Field Supervisor will lead, model, oversee, and hold personal and team accountability with supervision of the Streets Team’s staff and intern “Safety Guardians” to conduct mobile and localized encampment and neighborhood engagement services, with a focus on delivery of basic amenities according to a predictable daytime schedule.
The Field Supervisor will oversee the Streets Team’s second shift as an assertive community liaison for improving neighborhood quality of life. The mobile team will support and lead a homeless engagement team of local safety guardians who respond to neighborhood complaints and steward street and encampment hotspots.
The program will utilize equipment, supplies and materials such as sanitation, hygiene and water supplies, trash bags, gloves, masks, vests, materials to maintain vehicles and equipment, safety PPE, fuel, food/beverages, office materials, printing, trash disposal trailer, etc. It will accommodate debris disposal costs for Republic Services tipping fees.
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The organizations will work at a Central Richmond office space and meeting space, and costs may also include storage of supplies and donated materials, and storage of heavy equipment and vehicles.
Streets Team service activities will include:
Cleanup of trash and dumping. SOS will expand and deepen its debris removal to locations throughout Richmond, including existing and abandoned encampments, public spaces such as parks, creeks, streets, and anywhere that trash accumulates. Since receiving its first city grant in 2019, SOS! Richmond has had a significant positive impact on encampments and their surrounding neighborhoods. The Streets Team currently removes five tons per week from dumped locations. It is anticipated that the team will remove and dispose of 8-10 tons of trash per week.
Encampment residents are encouraged and motivated to steward their surroundings and keep them clean and safe. SOS! Richmond’s approach is to recruit and train encampment residents to self-manage their spaces and prepare trash for removal and disposal by the Streets Team’s mobile engagement team. Encampment dwellers will benefit from improved living conditions, a healthier environment, and safer and more organized camp communities. This is made possible by cultivating trusting relationships, and Streets Team members use their unique knowledge of localized cultures, dynamics, and nuanced encampment experiences to gain trust and model leadership. Team members can relate to their unsheltered peers on a level that is not possible with institutional service providers, enabling them to foster empowerment and positive behavior.
Improvements in collaboration and shared protocols among these unhoused leaders, and public agencies and neighborhood groups, will provide their eyes on the ground for the Streets Team to be responsive to new needs each day, thus benefitting the City and relieving the overwhelming problem of illegal dumping. Through this process, stakeholders improve the perception of public parks, streets, and other prominent places as safe spaces, inform perceptions about homelessness, and increase cross- sector cooperation.
The Streets Team models this cleanup activity for local encampment residents and neighbors alike and raises public awareness about neighborhood safety. As the Streets Team conducts its sanitation and outreach efforts, SOS! Richmond communicates with neighborhood partners and community leaders, public agency representatives, attends neighborhood council and civic group meetings, and shows up on neighborhood streets ready to engage in conversations with housed and unhoused neighbors and respond to
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their concerns and needs. It organizes for greater levels of communication and cooperation about the problems of homelessness. Such public awareness efforts will ultimately result in the introduction of interim sheltering, and eventually permanent housing, solutions in Richmond neighborhoods.
Deliver mobile showers to locations near unhoused neighbors. The Streets Team will operate the Shower Power program, a collaborative, coordinated effort that includes a mobile shower trailer that travels to homeless encampments and locations where clusters of people reside in vehicles. SOS Richmond partners with other community organizations to deliver a constellation of essential services for unsheltered residents of Richmond with the Shower Power program as its cornerstone. Services include hot showers, delivery of food, water and supplies, and other services as described below.
The mobile shower will visit at least five locations per week for 3-4 hours per day, serving 100 or more homeless people each week. Masking, social distancing and sanitation protocols are strictly enforced by trained workers. The team will continue to secure public and private hosts to provide water, electricity, and greywater effluent drainage at locations near encampments. In addition to a hot shower, the unhoused individuals receive food and drinking water; new socks and underwear, and access to clean clothing; personal protective equipment such as face masks, gloves, and sanitizer; hygiene supplies, sanitation supplies and trash bags; tents, tarps, sleeping bags and blankets for those without them; assistance navigating the Coordinated Entry System of homeless services, including health care and information about housing.
Shower Power serves as a draw to engage people with additional services, bringing in people who might not otherwise seek the help they need. The showers are a point of convergence of people and resources in partnership with community-based, nonprofit, and public agency partners, including active relationships with the County’s CORE mobile homeless outreach, Health Care for the Homeless, Free Meals on Wheels, and other collaborative partners. Brothers of International Faith will host food distribution alongside Shower Power at shower service locations.
A driver and at least two staff members are required to deliver and set up the mobile shower unit, welcome and survey shower program participants, distribute supplies, engage with participants to discuss their needs, and clean and disinfect the units after each use. The budget presented in this contract assumes an aligned delivery of Streets Team sanitation and Shower Power hygiene services.
Deploy additional amenities that provide for trash storage, portable toilets, drinking water, wastewater disposal, and power at encampment and street locations, scattered
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sites for off-street parking, and future transitional villages. Currently unsupported encampments will be gradually supported with the introduction of amenities. Managed encampments will be maintained with more robust service and leadership-building, and interim sheltering locations will be similarly supported with these basic amenities. Many of these resources will be provided by community-based efforts of in-kind supporters – people who live in Richmond and want to see the problems of homelessness addressed for an improved civil society with safety net supports.
The infrastructural improvements will be delivered and managed by the Streets Team in collaboration with public/private partners who invest in the safety of encampment residents and their impacted neighborhoods. These actions demonstrate to encampment residents that they have a responsibility to utilize and secure the infrastructure and steward their surroundings, in addition to addressing their most dire and basic needs. Program partners will work with SOS/RTEBN to lease, site, secure, manage and service any debris, toilet, water, and wastewater systems that are contracted for interim use to improve public health.
Leader-building and workforce development activities so that unhoused residents are more responsive to their peers’ and neighborhood’s needs. The Streets Team identifies, recruits and trains unhoused residents who demonstrate competencies, enthusiasm, and reliability to provide outreach and basic amenities to encampments, engage in trash removal, and support peers and adjacent housed neighbors. Outreach efforts identify volunteers who demonstrate their leadership and motivation to make changes in encampment and neighborhood quality of life. Interns receive a modest stipend while they train for potential employment. Employees receive a decent wage and the support needed to sustain their jobs and become productive members of society. Workforce training by program partners will support the efficacious employment of unhoused individuals so that they provide their services to Richmond’s neighborhoods in response to public health and safety concerns and needs.
Each day in the field, unhoused individuals are encouraged to demonstrate their personal initiative and leadership qualities as volunteers and are invited to join the Streets Team in its fulfillment of a predictable schedule of field activities. The volunteer is encouraged to regularly communicate with the Field Supervisor to begin and sustain the volunteer status.
Volunteers join staff to participate in staff meetings to brainstorm about problems and receive group in-field training to learn basic tasks and responsibilities. Program partners will be sub-contracted to increase the training that employees receive, who will paid to attend in-class training sessions to learn basic soft skills, handling hazardous materials,
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conflict de-escalation and motivational interviewing, problem-solving skills and education about trauma-informed care, and peer engagement, leadership, and empowerment.
Each employee applicant is required to complete volunteer and employment paperwork, obtain a CA ID, Social Security card, phone, and bank account for direct deposit, and demonstrate eligibility to work. They are assisted in this process by the Director, Field Supervisor, and SOS volunteers. Interns and employees are supported to secure transportation and conduct legal vehicle registration and operation. Each applicant will be assisted with developing a professional resume.
Streets Team members are expected to be the models for others, not only in their work performance but also in their personal living arrangements and relationships. Interns and employees are continually encouraged and supported to make personal improvements in their lives to obtain more stable dwellings and living conditions, and improve their personal health, emotional stability, and overall satisfaction and wellbeing.
Employees are prioritized to participate in the interim sheltering opportunities as they are developed by SOS! Richmond and the City. Each employee is expected to benefit from obtaining permanent housing and the means to sustain it with employment and an active “personal program” that keeps people working on their personal health.
Workforce development focuses on practicing teamwork according to a daily communication system and clear performance standards that are modeled by the Field Supervisor. Employees demonstrate their accessibility and dependability. They learn to model a positive outlook and the motivation for improving neighborhood quality-of-life and encampment living conditions. They are supportive of their peers to help them be healthy and engaged in Safety Guardian activities. Each Streets Team member recommends new volunteers to become Streets Team members. As an employee begins to excel in job performance, the hours increase and become more regular, responsibilities are nuanced and shaped to that individual’s aptitudes and strengths, and the employee advances in hourly and then salaried pay rates.
Local engagement focuses on safety, problem-solving and personal welfare to improve public safety. One of the most pressing issues at unsupported and managed encampments is the need for improved security to support public safety. It has thus far been difficult to implement successful security measures, even at managed encampments. The Streets Team will engage local stewards to work during late afternoons and evening hours to target three activities: trash collection, problem-solving, and advocating for people’s welfare. These activities together will bring more attention
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and care to situations that otherwise might result in problems with safety. Such activities may increase self-management practices among encampment dwellers.
The Streets Team is composed of local stewards and a mobile team. A local steward will be present at larger encampment locations to provide for “traditional” Streets Team activities such as trash cleanup. An additional task for select employees will involve talking with individuals to focus on welfare checks. By casually offering to support people’s needs, staff will seek to address what is not working and problem-solve in the moment or at the earliest next opportunity. With clipboard in-hand and by asking one or two simple questions, the Streets Team can respond to people’s expressed needs. In response, the Streets Team’s mobile team, Area Director, SOS volunteers, and program partners, including Housing Consortium of the Easy Bay (HCEB), will be responsive to these needs. The local steward will also lead in the empowerment of unsheltered residents to steward their locations to improve personal and public health, safety, and neighborhood order. Improving safety and security will thus involve proactive steps that can be taken by working with the residents who are receptive to support and are willing to participate.
Individually focused engagement will lead to community development at locations where people lack access to caring, trusted, and sustained relationships. The activity of securing and managing shared public spaces will lead to safer, more organized environments which will improve conditions and relationships in neighborhoods impacted by homelessness. The health and safety-focused engagement and empowerment activities will help to provide stewardship that supports the security of public spaces.
Mobile team to act as assertive community liaisons and problem solvers at problematic neighborhood locations. The mobile team will operate two shifts during the day and into the night to provide responses to neighborhood complaints or concerns related to homelessness and address these in a sustained and proactive manner. The team’s expansion of its capacity as assertive community liaison will improve neighborhood quality of life with its presence at problematic encampment and curbside locations and increase civility at public spaces. The mobile team will function as field supervision for the local stewards and Streets Team members as they work in the field. They will also provide observation and responses for the Secure Scattered Sites to ensure that host properties and the households residing on-site are safe and acting in accordance with contractual agreements.
The mobile team fulfills a basic function of picking up trash bags and debris that is dumped at specified locations. As the mobile team travels across Richmond and fulfills
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the Streets Team’s work at specific locations according to a predictable schedule, the team will also be responsive to requests for support from local guardians, concerned neighbors, public agencies, including CORE’s mobile outreach (CORE ceases its work at 4PM), and other public and private groups and institutions that express their neighborhood’s needs.
The team will answer these basic needs at encampments, streets, and other locations where unhoused individuals otherwise lack support, especially in the evenings when problems most often arise. It will regularly check in on individuals, especially vulnerable ones, and will keep track of where they are, how their needs are being met, and assist them in obtaining support and access to services in collaboration with program partners and mainstream providers. The mobile team will pass out bags, collect filled bags, and use their clipboards to keep track of promises for support.
The mobile team will provide a presence to deter illegal dumping and provide prompt responses when these calls are dispatched. It will also practice a light touch to address those concerns of quality-of-life and civility that can be safety responded to and which may mitigate public agency responses.
When practicable and safe, the mobile team can respond to concerns related to homelessness during evenings and nights until 3AM. It is during these late hours when a presence might make the difference in preventing crime and disorderly behaviors, especially at locations where local stewards request support and supervision by the mobile team for problem-solving.
The mobile homeless engagement team will address neighborhood complaints.
Collaboration with city and county agencies will expand for assertive public safety responses, improve communication lines with neighborhood housed residents, leaders, and groups, and potentially integrate with real-time dispatch call systems.
Manage and support Safe Parking Host program locations for vehicle dwellers. Interim sheltering solutions will offer safety, stability, and a cleaner, healthier environment, as well as a pathway to permanent housing. As tent and vehicle-dwelling households are disbursed from encampment locations, SOS Richmond will recruit the support of public and private property owners (churches, nonprofits and eventually businesses) to temporarily utilize vacant lots and parking lots to provide stable and secure transitions for select households. Secure sites are contracted for one to four households with private hosts. In its role as liaison and resource provider, SOS Richmond facilitates a successful relationship between household, host and immediate neighbors. The Streets Team will support the host and the households residing at each scattered site, manage
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the provision of on-site amenities, and provide centralized services that bring households to convergent resources. The mobile team will support the security of these sites in the evenings and ensure that households adhere to contractual agreements.
The Safe Parking Host program will support the provision of basic needs such as safe and stable shelter, food, water, and hygiene, as well as a sense of community, purpose, dignity, and hope. For each resident, a personalized service plan will be developed based on individual need, and focused on procurement of housing, may include medical and dental care, housing assistance, help applying for benefits and health insurance, employment counseling, job training or job placement, financial literacy counseling. The scattered site program will be for those who are not in need of mental health and substance abuse services.
Hosts will be interviewed by the SOS Director to establish what amenities are already present on the site and what types of situations they can accommodate (such as disability, children, etc.), and to gather information that will assist in selecting one or more households that are likely to be compatible with the host and the immediate surroundings. Interested vehicle dwellers will be interviewed by the SOS Field Supervisor and the Case Manager to determine their needs in terms of resources, supportive services, and the functionality of their vehicles.
Once the host's permit is approved, contractual agreements will outline the responsibilities of Host, SOS, and Guest. The Streets Team will assist the hosts with preparing their sites for the arrival of the guests. Depending on the site, this may include arranging for installation of a portable toilet and handwashing station, procurement of a drinking water storage tank, and any other assistance deemed necessary by the host.
They will assist the guests with meeting any compliance requirements related to the vehicle. The Field Supervisor will provide coaching for each household to prepare them for the responsibility and to promote accountability in their role as steward of the host's property. Once the guests have been settled at the site, a Streets Team member will visit on a regular basis to assist with any needs the guests may have, and to ensure that the arrangement is working out for both parties.
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Appendix 9. Police Accountability and Civilian Oversight
The scope of this appendix focuses on three subject areas:
1. Fair and Impartial Policing
2. Strengthening the Police Accountability Board
3. Saturation policing versus evidence-based constitutional policing
NICJR makes a brief mention of the PAB. Neither discuss policing strategies especially the Crime Suppression Unit, other than to affirm the move of low-risk and non-criminal matters away from the BPD sphere.
1. Fair and Impartial Policing: In February 2021, the City Council adopted the Fair and Impartial Policing platform recommended by the mayor’s working group, and referred it to the City Manager for implementation, with a consultative/oversight role given to the PAB, which came into existence on July 1, 2021.
The platform had significant overlap with the Reimagining initiative in areas such as reducing the police footprint, BerkDOT, and de-emphasizing stops for low- level, non-criminal, and especially non-safety related vehicle infractions.
Racial disparities in police stops, searches, outcomes (enforcement yield) and use of force were the impetus for the formation of the working group in 2018- 2019. This is also the area where the F&I platform made its distinctive contribution.
The core element of the platform addressing discriminatory stops is the Early Intervention System (EIS), which has been shown in neighboring cities to reduce racial disparities in police encounters.
While the BPD has a provision for an Early Warning System (EWS), the EIS will be an important departure in two ways. Firstly, it may be triggered by a statistical indication of racially disparate policing. Secondly, the goal is not only to locate, assist, and correct individual outlier officers, but to investigate, understand and address patterns and departmental problems giving rise to systemic disparities.
The program was mandated almost a year ago, and the elements of the EIS were elaborated over three years ago, in late 2017, by the Police Review Commission. The BPD has drafted an amended EWS/EIS policy but has not shared it with the PAB oversight body, the F&I working group, or members of the
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City Council, though it has shared it with the police association, which represents the officers conducting the disparate stops.
Important elements of the EIS program passed by Council include, among others:
b. Analyze data to determine whether racial disparities are generalized across the force or are concentrated in a smaller subset of outlier officers or squads/groups of officers. c. Where disparities are concentrated in an individual or a group of officers, with no race-neutral legitimate evidence for this behavior in specific cases, initiate an investigation to determine the cause for the disparity.
c. The goal of this process is to achieve trust and better community relations between the department as a whole and all the people in Berkeley. Formal discipline is a last resort unless there are violations of Department General Orders, in which case this becomes an IAB matter.
f. An outside observer from the PAB shall sit in on the risk management and/or EIS program.
The Task Force strongly recommends that the city administration take stronger steps to ensure the rapid implementation of the Council’s F&I platform.
Notwithstanding the explanations by the authorities for their delay, including the pandemic, staff vacancies, and a rise in some categories of crime, in the six plus years since BPD’s racial disparities came to light the disparities in stops remain as high as ever.
The raw numbers of Black and white civilians stopped by police are roughly equivalent and given the wide demographic disparity between the two groups, there is over a six to one disparity in a Black person’s odds of being stopped by Berkeley police compared to a white person’s, with the attendant legal, physical, psychological, and financial costs that entails. And the chances of a Black civilian who is stopped receiving no enforcement is about 25% higher than for a white civilian, indicating that many more Black people are stopped for no legitimate reason. 82
82 See charts in Fair and Impartial Working Group presentation to RIPSTF, May 19, 2021, https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_- _Commissions/Fair%20and%20Impartial%20WG%20-%20Task%20Force.pptx-1.pdf
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Fairness and impartiality are not simply an option for the police, one among many priorities, or something they can do when they get around to it. The issue of racial disparities is clearly documented and demand immediate change. The methods to address it have been laid out. The government has mandated implementation. After years of delay, the legitimacy of the public safety system is being undermined at a cost to the whole city.
Specific recommendations:
• Bring PAB representation into the EIS planning sessions. • Clarify the plan for establishing and operating the EIS, including its use as a tool to investigate the reasons for the stubborn, systemic persistence of racial disparities in Berkeley policing.
• Set a near-term timeline for implementation.
• Report on implementation, findings, and outcomes to the PAB and the Council.
2. Police Accountability Board and Director:
The passage of Measure ii a year ago was a big step forward for police accountability. But the PAB can only succeed if it has maximum support from both city administration and City Council. The Task Force strongly recommends the following steps as examples of support for the PAB:
• The Surveillance Ordinance imposes specific responsibilities on the City Manager when acquiring new surveillance technologies, including presenting a Surveillance Use Policy for PAB review before the Council may vote to acquire, use, or pay for such technologies.83 A similar process is required by the Police Equipment and Community Safety Ordinance with regard to each Controlled Equipment Impact Report and Use Policy.84 Council should go beyond these minimum requirements to request PAB advice prior to making even a policy decision to proceed toward such acquisitions. • Council placed a provision in Measure ii stating that BPD must share General Orders with the PAB within 30 days of implementation. This was a step back from the past practice of the BPD and PRC working together to develop such policies. Yet this charter provision represents only a minimal requirement.
Council and city management should establish a higher standard of practice that emulates the past practice with the PRC.
83 Specific triggers requiring presentation of the Use Policy to the PRC, now the PAB, include seeking, soliciting, or accepting grant funds for, acquiring, using, or entering into an agreement to share or use another party’s surveillance technology. “ACQUISITION AND USE OF SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY,” https://berkeley.municipal.codes/BMC/2.99.030
84 https://berkeley.municipal.codes/BMC/2.100
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The BPD and city management need to see the PAB as a partner in making policing policy. It should never be the case that the BPD says they cannot share a proposed policy with PAB because they are sharing it first with the police association.
• Measure ii gives the City Council the power to review and override the PAB regulations governing the civilian complaint review process. When PAB proposes a provision that will make it easier for people from historically marginalized communities to raise and pursue complaints of police misconduct, such a provision should carry a strong presumption of support from the Council.
3. Saturation Policing versus Constitutional or Evidence-Based Policing: Key to the proposals from the Fair and Impartial Working Group, later approved by the City Council, was this understanding of evidence-based policing:
Dr. Frank Baumgartner’s analysis reveals that “investigatory stops” (stops that use a minor infraction as a pretext for investigating rather than to prevent or reduce dangerous behavior) allow for the most officer discretion and open the possibility of implicit bias.85 Based on analyses of more than 9 million stops, Baumgartner’s team found that 47% were investigatory and that they added substantially to the racial disparity statistics. Thus, investigatory stops and stops of criminal suspects shall be restricted to those made because the person and/or vehicle fits a description in relation to a specific crime.86
Such investigatory or pretextual stops were demonstrated in the extreme by the New York PD’s massive stop-and-frisk practice that was ended by federal court order in 2013. Judge Shira Sheindlin ruled that the tactic violated the U.S.
Constitution’s Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.87
A related concern is the strategy of zero tolerance and aggressive policing, which “has been found to produce statistically insignificant changes in crime, on average. It also runs the risk of damaging police-community relations, both locally and even at the national level.”88
85 Suspect Citizens, Dr. Frank Baumgartner, 53-55 and 190-192 86 Eberhardt, J. L. (2016). Strategies for change: Research initiatives and recommendations to improve police- community relations in Oakland, Calif. Stanford University 87 https://civilrights.org/edfund/resource/nypds-infamous-stop-and-frisk-policy-found-unconstitutional/ 88 https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL261/better-policing-toolkit/all-strategies/zero-tolerance.html
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Also related is the practice of “saturation policing.” A 2017 Georgetown study shows:
The saturation of certain neighborhoods suggested extremely tight surveillance and disruption of everyday movements primarily of young Black males. In the Floyd v. City of New York trial on constitutional violations in the conduct of stop and frisk activity, one of the litigated facts was that police stops were concentrated in neighborhoods with high percentages of Black and Latino residents, net of the influence of local crime rates.89
Saturating communities of color with police is counter-productive in two ways. It is a very inefficient way to locate and apprehend violent actors, as police attention is spread throughout an entire community rather than focused on the small number of perpetrators. It also leads inexorably to racial profiling, excessive force, and mass incarceration.
A proposal has been introduced for the Berkeley City Council to create a Crime Suppression Unit within the police department. Little information on this Unit has been released, but sponsors refer to the Drug Task Force that operated in the historically African American district of South Berkeley for many years. The DTF incorporated many of the worst elements of saturation policing, aggressive policing, stop-and-frisk, and the national “drug war.” It had a reputation in the Black community for abusive tactics, racial profiling, and the targeting of an entire population regardless of any evidence of criminal conduct.
No policing unit be developed that uses these discredited policing tactics. They are unfair and damaging to Black and Brown communities, reinvigorating the regime of mass incarceration, called “the New Jim Crow,” that has not yet been dismantled.90 And they do not work, because they waste police resources that should be used to solve violent crime by instead focusing on low-level offenders or simply on community members who may fit a racial profile. Instead, Berkeley must put our moral, organizational, and financial resources behind a new vision of “holistic, equitable and community-centered safety” as discussed elsewhere in this report.
89 https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2019/10/fagan-new- policing-new-segregation_ACCESSIBLE.pdf
90 https://newjimcrow.com/
Office of the City Manager
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7000 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7099 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.CityofBerkeley.info/Manager
REVISED
AGENDA MATERIAL
for Supplemental Packet 2
Meeting Date: March 10, 2022
Item Number: 2
Item Description: Presentation and Discussion of Reports Submitted by Reimaging Public Safety Task Force and National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
Submitted by: National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
A summary of the changes:
• Removed photo on the bottom of page 12
• Changed the diagrams on page 18 to run horizontal as opposed to vertical • Replaced HALO graphic on page 24
• Corrected the page numbers in the Table of Contents on page 155 • The language regarding the incident with Vincent Bryant on page 8 has been corrected.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................3 R
eport Infographic Summary .................................................................................................. ...................................4
Background ....................................................................................................................................................................5
NICJR R
eports .................................................................................................. .......................................................... 10 Implementation Plan ................................................................................................................................................. 13 C
onclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 38 A
ppendices .................................................................................................................................................................. 39
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 3 INTRODUCTION
On July 14, 2020, the Berkeley City Council (Council) made a historic commitment to reimagine the City’s approach to public safety with the passage of an omnibus package of referrals, resolutions, and directives known as The George Floyd Community Safety Act. Central to the proposal was a commitment to achieve a “new and transformative model of positive, equitable, and community centered safety for Berkeley.” 1 Direction was given to the City Manager to collaborate with the Mayor and select Councilmembers to inform City of Berkeley (City) investments and reallocations to be incorporated into future Budget processes and to contract with independent subject matter experts to analyze the scope of work and community needs addressed by the Berkeley Police Department (BPD), to identify a more limited role for law enforcement, and to identify elements of police work that could be achieved through alternative programs, policies, systems, and community investments.
The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) was selected through a Request for Proposal process to conduct this work in partnership with Bright Research Group, which led the community engagement; Renne Public Law Group, who has provided guidance on policy recommendations; Pastor Michael Smith, who supported the community engagement and outreach; and Jorge Camacho, the Policy Director of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.
This Final Report and Implementation Plan is the culmination of NICJR efforts over the past 10 months, a body of work reflected in the following deliverables:
1. Ne
w and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing report;
2. Berk
eley Calls for Service Analysis;
3. Alt
ernative Responses report;
4. Community
Engagement report; and
5. A pr
oject website.
1 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST.aspx
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 4 The City of Berkeley’s George
Floyd Act referenced NICJR’s
reform model of Reduce
— Improve — Reinvest.
This report is also primarily
organized in those sections:
Reduce the footprint of law
enforcement; Improve the
quality of law enforcement
and public safety; and Reinvest
into community and services.
Some of the recommendations
in this report are programs
or policies that have been
tried in other jurisdictions
and have a track record of
effectiveness or promise, other
recommendations are new
ideas, aligned with the goal of
Reimagining!
The body of this report is
already 40 pages for a total
of 272 pages, including the
appendices, therefore the
below graphic provides
a quick overview of the
detailed recommendations
included in this report
instead of repeating the
narrative.
REPORT INFOGRAPHIC
SUMMARY
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 5 BACKGROUND
Berkeley City Council George Floyd Act
In response to the national outcry for police reform, and in line with the City’s long history of progressive policy making, the Berkeley City Council formally adopted the George Floyd Community Safety Act which included the following package of referrals, resolutions, and directions:
1. Ha
ve the City’s elected Auditor perform an analysis of the City’s emergency 9-1-1 calls-for-service and responses, as well as analysis of the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) budget.
2. Cr
eate plans and protocols for calls for service to be routed and assigned to alternative preferred responding entities and consider placing dispatch in the Fire Department or elsewhere outside the Police Department.
3. Analyz
e and develop a pilot program to re-assign non-criminal police service calls to a Specialized Care Unit. This Specialized Care Unit (SCU) consists of trained crisis-response field workers who would respond to calls that the Public Safety Communications Center operator evaluated as non-criminal and that posed no imminent threat to the safety of community members and/or Police Department or Fire Department personnel.
4. Ev
aluate initiatives and reforms that reduce the footprint of the Berkeley Police Department and limit the Police Department’s scope of work primarily to violent and criminal matters. This work should include an evaluation of programs and services currently provided by the Police Department that could be better served by trained non-sworn city staff or community partners.
5. Aspire t
o reduce the Police Department’s budget by 50% to generate resources to fund the following priorities:
• Youth pr
ograms;
• Violence pr
evention and restorative justice programs;
• Domestic
violence prevention;
• Housing and homeless servic
es;
• Food S
ecurity;
• Public health and M
ental Health services including a specialized care unit; • Healthcar
e;
• Ne
w city jobs;
• Expanded partnerships
with community organizations, and
• Establishing a ne
w Department of Transportation to administer parking regulations and traffic laws
6. Engaging
a qualified firm(s) or individual(s) to lead a robust, inclusive, and transparent community engagement process with the goal of achieving a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for Berkeley.
7. Pur
sue the creation of a Berkeley Department of Transportation to ensure a racial justice lens in traffic enforcement and the development of transportation policy, programs and infrastructure, and identify and
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 6 implement approaches to reduce and/or eliminate the practice of pretextual stops based on minor traffic violations.
8. Analy
sis of litigation outcomes and exposure for city departments in order to guide the creation of city policy to reduce the impact of settlements on the General Fund.
Recent History of Problems with Policing in Berkeley
Although immediately inspired by the
events of 2020, the Council’s George
Floyd Act came on the heels of a period
of challenges with the BPD:
February 12, 2013: Death of Kayla
Moore, Black transgender woman in
mental health distress
Kayla Moore, a Black transgender
woman with schizophrenia, died in her
apartment on Allston Way while BPD
officers were responding to a call for a
“wellness check.” During the incident,
half a dozen police officers forcibly held
her down. The family of Kayla Moore
filed a lawsuit in 2014 against the City
of Berkeley, however, the City contended that minimal and appropriate force was used and sought a dismissal of the lawsuit in federal court, which was ultimately granted.
December 6, 2015: Use of Force at Black Lives Matter protests During a Black Lives Matter protest in Berkeley on December 6, BPD was accused of beating peaceful protesters and journalists, and using excessive amounts of teargas without justification. 2 In 2017, the City of Berkeley reached a settlement with several plaintiffs who sued the City and BPD for the attack. Seven plaintiffs received $125,000 and BPD agreed to amend its use of force policy. 3 March 26, 2018: Black child falsely accused, chased, and run over by car On March 26, 2018, on Telegraph and Stuart, a Black child in the 7th grade was chased and grabbed by a white man, who mistook the Black child roughhousing with a white female classmate on the sidewalk as an assault.
The boy was then struck with a car by another man as he ran in fear of his safety. The family was told by a white police sergeant that nothing unlawful actually happened, and determined that the man chasing the child did not commit any crime, rather he was lawfully attempting to make a citizen’s arrest. In addition, the child’s grandmother, who is his legal guardian, reported that she was told by BPD that she had no right to any written reports or documentation of the incident without a court order. 4 2 https:/ /www.kqed.org/news/10402266/berkeleys-police-chief-on-protests-tear-gas-use 3 https:/ /www.dailycal.org/2017/02/05/city-berkeley-reaches-conditional-settlement-lawsuit-regarding-police-use-force/ 4 https:/ /www.berkeleyside.org/2018/05/18/opinion-the-willard-school-community-wants-answers-fromberkeley-police-about-a- troubling-incident
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 7 May 2018: Report Reveals Racial Disparities in BPD Stops and Searches An analysis by the nationally renowned Center for Police Equity published in May 2018 found the stops and searches conducted by BPD were racially disproportionate. The report states:
“Our analysis of BPD vehicle and pedestrian stops found that Black and Hispanic persons were more likely than White persons to be stopped by BPD. Black persons in Berkeley were about 6.5 times more likely per capita than White persons to be stopped while driving, and 4.5 times more likely to be stopped on foot. Hispanic persons were about twice as likely, per capita, as White persons to be stopped while driving, and slightly less likely to be stopped on foot. In addition to their much higher stop rates, Black and Hispanic drivers (and pedestrians) were also searched at much higher rates. Once stopped, Black drivers were searched at a rate four times higher than their White counterparts (20% compared to 5%), while Hispanic drivers were searched at three times the White rate (15%).” March 14, 2020: Less-lethal shooting of unarmed Black man, Ashby & Sacramento St., A BPD officer used a less-lethal weapon to shoot William Dean Brown, a Black man kneeling on the ground with his empty hands in the air. He was shot within a distance of 12 feet and was hit in the torso, and quickly handcuffed and tackled by three officers as soon as he hit the ground.
June 9, 2020: BPD Chief mentions shooting protesters at City Council Meeting Just after a march organized by The Way church protesting the killing of George Floyd, then BPD Chief Andrew Greenwood made a comment during a Council meeting to discuss whether to permanently ban the use of tear gas as a method of crowd control. City Councilmember Susan Wengraf asked Greenwood what kind of alternative tools would be best to use if a crowd turned violent and police could not use tear gas, to which Greenwood replied “Firearms. We can shoot people.” His statement immediately prompted a call from the community for his resignation.
5 June 30, 2020: Officer shooting at Black man and minors in vehicle, North Berkeley BPD Officer Cheri Miller fired her gun at three teenagers accused of shoplifting at CVS. Miller got out of her vehicle with her gun drawn, and, within less than a minute of her arrival, she had ordered the driver, 19-year- old Brandon Owens of Concord, a young Black man, to get into his car and put his keys on the roof. When Brandon got back into his vehicle, he began to drive away from the officer who then shot at the moving vehicle three times. There were two minors in the car with Brandon. Miller was found not to have committed any crime, but was found in violation of BPD’s deadly force policy and was fired.
December 17, 2020: Use of force Parker and Mathews St., Southwest Berkeley 55-year-old David Frazier and an unnamed passenger were pulled over for multiple vehicle code violations.
The initial call was categorized as a routine traffic stop. When Frazier finally stopped after multiple attempts from BPD, two officers approached Frazier’s vehicle and began to forcefully attempt to pull Frazier out of the front seat, punching and pulling on him. The three officers were unsuccessful in gaining control over Frazier and then stepped back and pulled out their batons and began to beat Frazier while he sat in the front seat. Two more officers then approached the passenger side of the vehicle with their guns drawn, broke the passenger window, pulled the passenger out, handcuffed him and dragged him away. Frazier was dragged out of the car and tackled by five or six officers, handcuffed, and forced to sit upright on the hood of a police vehicle.
5 https:/ /www.berkeleyside.org/2020/06/13/marchers-in-berkeley-demand-resignation-of-police-chief
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 8 January 2, 2021: Shooting of unhoused Black man with mental illness, Shattuck Ave., Downtown Berkeley Vincent Bryant, a 50-year-old unhoused Black man who suffers from mental illness, was accused of stealing food items from the downtown Walgreens. Responding to 911 calls of a robbery, police found Bryant in a nearby courtyard. Bryant pulled out a bike chain and reportedly wound up preparing to swing the chain at officers when he was shot by both less than lethal foam rounds as well as one officer firing her firearm, striking Bryant in the jaw, causing severe injuries.
Reimagining Public Safety Task Force
As part of the George Floyd Act, the City created the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force (RPSTF), which was charged with making recommendations to the consultant (NICJR) and city staff on structures and initiatives to outline a new, community-centered safety paradigm as a foundation for deep and lasting change, grounded in the principles of Reduce, Improve and Reinvest as proposed by the NICJR, considering, among other things:
• The social determinants of health and changes required to deliver a holistic approach to community- centered safety;
• Defining an appropriate response to calls-for-service including size, scope of operation and powers and duties of a well-trained police force;
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 9 • Limiting militarized weaponry and equipment; and
• Iden
tifying alternatives to policing and enforcement to reduce conflict, harm, and institutionalization, introduce restorative and transformative justice models, and reduce or eliminate use of fines and incarceration. Options to reduce police contacts, stops, arrests, tickets, fines, and incarceration and replace these, to the greatest extent possible, with educational, community serving, restorative, and other positive programs, policies, and systems.
The Task Force is comprised of:
•
One (1) r
epresentative appointed by each member of the City Council and Mayor, • One
(1) representative appointed from the Mental Health Commission, Youth Commission and Police Review Commission,
• One
(1) representative appointed by the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) External Affairs Vice President,
• One
(1) representative appointed by the Berkeley Community Safety Coalition (BCSC) Steering Committee, and
• Thr
ee (3) additional members appointed “At-Large” by the Task Force.
District 1 - Margaret Fine Youth Commission - Nina Thompson District 2 - Sarah Abigail Ejigu Police Review Commission - Nathan Mizell District 3 - boona cheema Mental Health Commission - Edward Opton District 4 - Jamie Crook Berkeley Community Safety Coalition - Jamaica Moon District 5 - Dan Lindheim Associated Students of U. California - Alecia Harger District 6 - La Dell Dangerfield At-Large - Vacant
District 7 - Barnali Ghosh At-Large - Liza Lutzker
District 8 - Pamela Hyde At-Large - Frances Ho
Mayor - Hector Malvido
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 10 NICJR REPORTS
NICJR produced drafts of the following series of reports then received feedback from the RPSTF and City staff and made necessary edits and additions then finalized:
1. Ne
w and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing Report
2. Berk
eley Calls For Service Analysis Report
3. Alt
ernative Responses Report
4. Community
Engagement Report
Included below is a brief description and summary of each of those reports. Links to the full reports are included below and the reports are appendices G through J.
New and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing Report The New and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing report includes detailed overviews of a variety of examples of Emerging Non-Enforcement Models of Community Response; Non-Law Enforcement Crime Reduction Strategies; Community Driven Violence Reduction Strategies; and Policing Strategies. Highlighted below are some of the programs included in that report that informed NICJR’s final recommendations for the City’s reimagining work:
Emerging Non-Enforcement Models of Community Response include the Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT).
The City of Olympia, Washington implemented the CRU in April of 2019 to serve as an option to respond to behavioral health calls for service. CRU teams consist of mental health professionals that provide support such as mediation, housing assistance, and referrals to additional services to their clients. 6 Calls for service for the
CRU originate from community-based service providers, the City’s 911 hub, and law enforcement personnel. 7 The SCRT is a pilot program launched in November 2020 and administered by the Fire Department in San Francisco, California. The program targets individuals experiencing behavioral health crises. SCRTs consist of a behavioral health specialist, a peer interventionist, and a first responder. 911 calls that are determined to be appropriate for a SCRT are routed accordingly by dispatch. A team responds to calls in an average of 15 minutes.
8 Non-Law Enforcement Crime Reduction Strategies include the Mayor’s Action Plan (MAP) in New York City, NY.
Launched in 2014 in fifteen New York City Housing Authority properties, MAP was designed to foster productive dialogue between local residents and law enforcement agencies, address physical disorganization, and bolster pro-social community bonds. MAP’s focal point is NeighborhoodStat, a process that allows residents to have a say in the way NYC allocates its public safety resources. 9 Early evaluations show a reduction in various crimes
as well as increased perception of healthier neighborhoods.10 6 https:/ /olympiawa.gov/city-services/police-department/Crisis-Response-Peer-Navigator.aspx 7 https:/ /www.vera.org/behavioral-health-crisis-alternatives/cru-and-familiar-faces 8 https:/ /sfmayor.org/article/san-franciscos-new-street-crisis-response-team-launches-today 9 https:/ /www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2019/10/02/475220/neighborhoodstat-strengthening- public-safety-community-empowerment/
10 https:/ /johnjayrec.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/MAP_EvalUpdate06.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 11 Calls for Service Analysis
The Berkeley City Auditor conducted an extensive report on BPD Calls For Service (CFS or events) which was published in July of 2021. NICJR conducted a complementary Calls for Service Analysis as part of its work on the City’s remaining effort.
The three primary objectives for the NICJR CFS report were to 1) provide an analysis of BPD CFS according to NICJR’s crime categories; 2) map NICJR’s crime categories to NICJR’s proposed Tiered Dispatch model; and 3) identify which CFS should be responded to by a non-BPD alternative.
The proposed Tiered Dispatch model and Community Emergency Response Network (CERN) reduce the burden on police to respond to certain calls for service and improve outcomes through community response to lower level and non-criminal incidents. The CERN will use community safety and problem solving responders who have expertise in community engagement, crisis response, de-escalation, and conflict mediation and resolution skills. Implementing the Tiered Dispatch and CERN can serve to increase public safety by refocusing law enforcement officers on the most serious crimes, applying a more appropriate response to public health and quality of life CFS, and more effectively utilizing public dollars and resources.
A review of over 358,000 CFS over the 5-year study period (2015-2019) found that over 81 percent of BPD CFS were for non-criminal events. Only 7.4 percent of CFS were for felonies of any kind. NICJR’s assessment of viable alternative responses indicated that 50 percent of CFS can be responded to with no BPD involvement, with another 18 percent of CFS requiring BPD to be present, but to serve in a support, rather than a lead role.
As a result of an assessment of the CFS and the narrative of the actual incidents, NICJR recommended that alternative response options be developed for the 50 percent of CFS that were determined to not require a law enforcement response.
Alternative Response Report
The Alternate Responses Report expands upon the Calls for Service analysis, providing a detailed overview of NICJR’s Tiered Dispatch model, the CERN, and describes how specific call types are assigned to the four tiers:
• Tier 1
: Non-Criminal: 911 calls and other CFS that are not crimes, like noise complaints or suspicious persons
• Tier
2: Misdemeanors
• Tier
3: Non-violent felonies
• Tier
4: Serious and violent felonies
Eventually, all Tier 1 and some Tier 2 CFS should be able to be responded to by the CERN or other non-police responders.
The report concludes with an overview of a framework for the City’s alternative response model, drawing upon both existing and planned City resources.
A description and implementation plan utilizing Tiered Dispatch and the CERN model are outlined in detail in the Implementation Plan below.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 12 Community Engagement Report
Berkeley’s Reimagining Public Safety process has included comprehensive outreach and engagement of local community members in an effort to develop a community safety model that reflects the needs of the community and creates increased safety for all. In collaboration with the City of Berkeley’s RPSTF and the City Manager’s Office, Bright Research Group (BRG) developed and conducted a community survey to gather residents’ experiences with and perceptions of BPD and crisis response; and their perspectives on and priorities for reimagining public safety. More than 2,700 people responded to the survey. NICJR and its partners, as well as RPSTF members, held 14 listening sessions to hear from community members, especially hard to reach community members and those not well represented in the survey, including: the unhoused residents, formerly incarcerated, youth, Black residents and Latinix residents. Details of the survey responses and listening session feedback are contained in the Community Engagement Report.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 13 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Based on the extensive research that was conducted by NICJR and partners, input from the community engagement process, feedback from the Task Force and other stakeholders, NICJR provides the following detailed recommendations to the City of Berkeley categorized in the Reduce — Improve — Reinvest framework.
REDUCE
To achieve the goal of a smaller law enforcement footprint and to reallocate a portion of the BPD budget towards more community supports, NICJR recommends the following measures:
•
Implemen
tation of the Tiered Dispatch/CERN model
• End pr
etextual stops
• Implemen
tation of BerkDOT, which should further reduce the size of BPD Tiered Dispatch/Emergency Response Network
The graph below depicts the response to certain 911 and other calls for service based on the Tiered Dispatch model, which contemplates a tiered response to CFS based on the nature of the call as reflected below:
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 14 As reflected in the CFS Analysis, 81 percent of the 358,000 calls for service to BPD between 2015 -2019 were for non-criminal events. While some of these calls were determined not to be appropriate for non-police response based on an analysis of call narratives, NICJR recommends that 50 percent of these non-criminal calls be handled by a non-police response.
With BPD freed up to focus its efforts and attention on serious and violent crime, community-based responders can focus on the variety of needs that fall into the identified 50 percent of non-police calls. In addition to being available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the CERN would be designed to build on the professional skills and expertise of non-sworn staff and to utilize collaborative community partnerships and the other necessary resources to appropriately and holistically respond to individuals in need. Some examples of this in practice include:
•
The
Albuquerque Community Safety Department provides a third option when individuals call 911, instead of only having the option of police or fire department services. Community Safety responders are dispatched with and without other first responders (Police and Fire). Community Safety responders may have backgrounds as social workers, peer to peer support, clinicians, counselors, or other similar fields.
11 • The Durham Community Safety Department dispatches trained, unarmed responders that may include lic
ensed clinical social workers and mental health clinicians paired with paramedics to calls involving mental or behavioral health needs, minor traffic accidents, quality of life issues (trespassing, loitering, panhandling, etc), and calls for general assistance.
12 • New York City B-HEARD (Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division) Program focuses on
using a mental-health centered response to 911 mental health calls. The B-HEARD teams have the expertise to respond to a range of behavioral health problems, such as suicide ideation, substance misuse, and mental illness, including serious mental illness, as well as physical health problems, which can be exacerbated by or mask mental health problems.
13 A national poll conducted in June of 2021 found that 70 percent of likely voters support a non-police response for 911 calls about mental health crises, and 68 percent support the creation of non-police emergency response programs.
14 In many jurisdictions, police are the first to respond to 911 calls about people experiencing issues related to mental health, homelessness, and substance use. However, police officers report not having the proper training or expertise to appropriately respond to those situations and often resort to their training and treat non-criminal situations as crimes.
Chief Eric Hawkins of the Albany, NY police department said, “Fundamentally I don’t have a problem with the basic premise to defund the police, and that is police officers should be doing police work and not social work.
Police officers shouldn’t be the point of contact for individuals with mental health issues, substance abuse issues, or unhealthy family structural issues.”
11 https:/ /www.cabq.gov/acs
12 https:/ /durhamnc.gov/4576/Community-Safety
13 https:/ /www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/b-heard-public-faqs-5-27-2021.pdf 14 https:/ /theappeal.org/the-lab/polling-memos/likely-voters-support-non-police-emergency-response/
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 15 Development and implementation of the Tiered Dispatch model advances the Berkeley City Council’s July 14, 2020, direction “to evaluate initiatives and reforms that reduce the footprint of the Police Department and limit the Police’s scope of work primarily to violent and criminal matters”. 15 Tiered Dispatch/CERN Pilot Program
Based on the information garnered from the preparation of its deliverable reports and an understanding of the approaches being taken by jurisdictions across the country, NICJR recommends the establishment of a Tiered Dispatch/CERN Pilot Program, focused on a subset of the Tier 1 call types that can be used in the pilot phase in order to work out logistical and practical challenges prior to scaling up the program. Upon implementation of the pilot phase of the Tiered Dispatch/CERN, BPD would no longer respond to the identified subset of Tier 1 (non-criminal) calls for service which would instead be handled by the CERN responders.
NICJR recommends contracting with local Community Based Organizations (CBOs) who are best prepared to successfully navigate and leverage local resources, services, and supports, to respond to the pilot Tier 1 calls.
The call types designated for the pilot phase are the 13 call types listed in the Table below. This subset of Tier 1 calls, selected due to the combination of high volume of calls and incidents that could be effectively handled by community respondes, accounts for 89,283 total calls or approximately 25 percent of all calls over the 5-year study period.
15 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST.aspx
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 16 Tier 1 Subset of CFS for Pilot # of calls
in 2015
# of calls
in 2016
# of calls
in 2017
# of calls
in 2018
# of calls
in 2019
Abandoned Vehicle 403 449 481 476 496
Disturbance 6741 6955 7447 7540 6709
Found Property 900 914 888 779 726
Inoperable Vehicle – – – 1 6
Lost Property 16 16 17 15 14
Noise Disturbance 3359 3307 3239 3158 2709
Non-Injury Accident 561 617 571 564 492
Suspicious Circumstances 2586 2354 2254 2184 2041
Suspicious Person 1628 1698 1756 1653 1479
Suspicious Vehicle 1560 1687 1626 1385 1448
Vehicle Blocking Driveway – – – 345 953
Vehicle Blocking Sidewalk – – – 15 45
Vehicle Double Parking – – – 6 14
T otal 17,754 17,997 18,279 18,121 17,132
Tiered Dispatch/CERN Pilot Program Implementation Steps NICJR recommends that the City develop and issue a request for proposals to contract with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to become CERN responders.
NICJR’s recommendation is to divide the City into two CERN districts and award contracts to two CBOs to cover each district. Each CERN district should have three teams (one team per shift) of two CERN responders or Community Intervention Specialists, plus two additional Community Intervention Specialists as floaters to cover staff who call out or are on vacation.
For the pilot program, each CERN district would include the following staff:
•
8 Community
Intervention Specialists
• 3 o
f the Community Intervention Specialists would be leads, to have a lead Community Intervention Specialist (CIS) on each shift
• 1 CERN Supervisor
• 3 CERN Dispa
tch/Administrative staff
A position overview for the Community Intervention Specialist is included as Appendix A.
Although as a part of the RFP process applicant CBOs would submit proposed budgets, a sample budget of one CERN team is included in Appendix B. According to BPD’s June 10, 2021, budget presentation to the City
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 17 Council, the Department is currently holding $6.4 million in annual salary savings in vacant positions while the Reimagining Public Safety process plays out. These funds more than cover the costs of a CERN pilot. This budget does not include training and technical assistance for the CERN and BPD dispatch that NICJR suggest be provided by an organization that has implemented an alternative response program.
Dispatch
The following information was provided by BPD about dispatch:
Dispatchers are trained to identify approximately 170 pre-established call types for CFS in the CAD system. Some call types may be administrative and specific to BPD or categorized by California penal or vehicle code, and others are categorized by the Berkeley municipal code. Dispatchers are also trained to identify about 40 pre-determined call types for fire and EMS CFS.
The dispatcher identifies an applicable call type to assign the CFS based on what the caller is describing.
The call type also determines the response level priority. The reliability of the call type assignment is dependent upon what the dispatcher is being told by the caller. Often the information the dispatcher obtains is unclear, fractured, or incomplete.
If the information or circumstances of an incident do not clearly fit a call type, BPD uses a ‘catch all’ call type description that dispatchers apply to initiate a response to the CFS. Some examples of call types include:
• 415 (Disturbance)
• SUSCIR (Suspicious Cir
cumstance)
• 10-42 (Welf
are Check)
• UNK (Unkno
wn Problem)
• PCVIO (Misc
ellaneous Penal Code Violation)
• ADVICE (A
dvice)
Therefore, the outcome of the CFS can be very different from the original call type assignment. Call types may change based on receiving new information prior to an officer arriving on-scene. Once an officer arrives on-scene the call type remains the same, but the final disposition or outcome of the CFS can be different from the call type when dispatched.
To implement the Tiered Dispatch/CERN model, training will be needed for dispatchers. But, per the process described above by BPD, there is not much of a change to how dispatchers will be asked to operate. When dispatchers identify a call as one of the 13 pilot program call types, they will send that call to the CERN Dispatch in the CERN district the call is coming from.
NICJR has suggested the 13 call types for the pilot initiative based on an examination of the call for service data including the call type at intake as well as final disposition. Appendix C includes a summary of and some actual Berkeley 911/CFS incidents among the 13 suggested call types to be in the pilot.
BPD currently receives many calls to its non-emergency phone line and often dispatches officers to those CFS.
The CERN would also receive those CFS through BPD dispatch but the CERN should also have its own direct non-emergency line to receive CFS directly from the community that do not have to be routed through BPD.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 18 Specialized Care Unit (SCU)
The City of Berkeley has initiated several police reform/public safety reimagining initiatives in the past 18 months, including the development of a SCU that was separate from this Reimagining Public Safety process.
NICJR consultants worked with the Task Force and consultants on the SCU project to collaborate on community outreach addressing response to mental health calls. In the broad survey that received more than 2800 responses, a large majority of the respondents (80.8%) indicated a preference for trained mental health providers to respond to calls related to mental health and substance use, with most among those respondents indicating that police support should be available when needed. 16 NICJR has received occasional updates
on the SCU development process. The final report on the SCU is due to be released on the same day as the submission of the draft of this Final Report to the City and Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. With the understanding that the SCU will respond to calls for service related to mental health and substance abuse, NICJR recommends that either the SCU becomes a division of the CERN and responds to the specified call types identified in the SCU development process or that the SCU becomes a separate, third dispatch option.
Both options are depicted below:
16 Page 16 of the Community Engagement Report
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 19 Example Tiered Dispatch/CERN Response from Call to Completion A Berkeley resident who lives in an apartment building calls 911 at 2:00 a.m. saying there has been ongoing loud music and noises coming from a nearby unit in the apartment building. The dispatcher determines that the call is a 415E - Noise Disturbance call in South Berkeley and routes the call information to the South Berkeley CERN. The CERN dispatcher calls or radios the Community Intervention Specialist team on duty and provides them information about the call, both verbally and in the CAD, and directs them to the call.
The CIS team arrives on scene and hears the loud music. They knock on the door that the music is emanating from and talk with the occupants. After some discussion using their mediation training, the CIS team convinces the occupants to turn down their music. The lead CIS enters notes into the CAD (or other data system if an alternative is decided upon)
In 2019, according to the BPD CAD data, there were at least 1,000 disturbance calls for service involving loud music. Nearly all of those calls were responded to by a sworn police officer.
Once the pilot has been initiated, NICJR recommends the following steps:
1. Assess the
pilot program, including response times, resolution of emergency, how often officers are being requested to the scene by the CERN, and other measures;
2. Implemen
t regular CERN debriefs to assess circumstances in which officers were asked to respond and the associated outcome, as well as when they were not called and the associated outcome -- this will assist in identifying potential expansion or reduction of specific types of CFS in each response tier and allow the City to better tailor the program to the community needs;
3. Ev
aluate administrative, budget, and staffing implications from the transfer of services, noting both successes and challenges that impact program implementation - i.e. vacant positions, staff turnover, access to data, additional or specific training needed etc.;
4. Gr
adually expand the pilot to have CERN respond to all Tier 1 CFS Alternative responses should be piloted and scaled after proven effective. As the Tiered Dispatch system is built out, BPD patrol staffing can be reduced through attrition and the budget can be reduced, and more funds can continue to be made available to support alternative responses and investment in addressing root cause issues.
NICJR is not recommending officer layoffs, but reducing the BPD budget through attrition. According to data provided by BPD, in the five years between 2016-2020, an average of 17 officers per year left the Department.
As alternative response is implemented, BPD should concentrate its officers’ efforts on serious, violent felonies, with a top priority on gun crimes. We also recommend shifting BPD resources and staff time (sworn and non- sworn) to investigations, with a focus on solving violent crimes and improving clearance rates.
Potential CERN CBO Providers
There are a small number of community based organizations in Berkeley that could operate a CERN. Three of these are briefly highlighted below:
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 20 Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS)
Established in 1971, Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) oversees a variety of programs and services encompassing housing, reentry, violence prevention, employment, education, and criminal justice policies. A major initiative BOSS has created is Neighborhood Impact Hubs, which provide resources and services to neighborhoods in Alameda County that experience concentrated poverty and violence. Supports provided include job training, community outreach, peer support, mediation, and others. 17 BOSS also operates many transitional and permanent housing sites for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Specialists known as Housing Navigators work to provide housing to individuals and families in the BOSS Network as well as those referred to the organization by way of the 211 Coordinated Entry System and Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services.
18 BOSS also manages Street Outreach teams in Oakland,
working in neighborhoods with high rates of violence. BOSS has worked in Berkeley since its inception.
Bonita House, Inc.
Bonita House, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides an array of services ranging from treatment for psychiatric and substance use disorders, intensive residential treatment, independent living programs, housing and employment assistance, and outpatient case management. The organization takes a social rehabilitative approach to assisting people recovering from mental health and substance use disorders. 19 Currently, Bonita House, Inc.’s Creative Wellness Center (CWC) is funded by the City of Berkeley and serves as an entry point for recovery and supportive services for people with mental health needs and co-occurring conditions. Bonita House recently launched a Community Assessment and Transport Team (CATT) to serve as a crisis response system. This program is a joint effort among Alameda County Health Care Services Agency programs, 911 dispatch, the County Sheriff’s Office, and others. Through CATT, a a mental health provider and an Emergency Medical Technician will be available in a mobile transport unit to assist clients with a medical assessment along with transport to further services.
20 Bay Area Community Services (BACS)
Bay Area Community Services (BACS) was established in 1953 to elevate under-served individuals and families by supplying innovative behavioral health and housing assistance in northern California. BACS’ philosophy centers on a trauma-informed, person-centric approach.
21 The organization’s North County Housing Resource
Center (HRC) connects adults across Alameda County with housing opportunities. Services include housing navigation, financial assistance, legal workshops, and connections to additional resources. 22 The HRC is a part of
Berkeley’s Coordinated Entry System (CES), an initiative which aims to more effectively tackle homelessness.23 Another major program BACS administers is the Berkeley Pathways STAIR Center. The Berkeley Pathways STAIR Center is a re-housing program that assists individuals experiencing homelessness with transitioning into permanent housing in West Berkeley.
24 Open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, individuals at the STAIR Center are connected to case managers, supplied with meals and storage, and provided mental health services.
25 A critical component of the program is street outreach, in that outreach workers sustain 17 https:/ /www.self-sufficiency.org/supportsjcf
18 https:/ /www.self-sufficiency.org/housingnavigation
19 https:/ /bonitahouse.org/about-us/
20 https:/ /bonitahouse.org/catt/
21 http:/ /bayareacs.org/who-we-are/
22 http:/ /www.bayareacs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/HS-Flyer-HRC-North-County.pdf 23 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/homeless-entry/
24 https:/ /alamedakids.org/resource-directory/view-program.php?id=1223 25 https:/ /chancellor.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/berkeleypathwaysinformation.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 21 a presence in Berkeley’s encampments and build relationships with their residents. During the first year of the STAIR Center, 170 individuals acquired a STAIR bed, with 101 clients exiting the shelter to permanent housing.
26 Berkeley Police Department Staffing & Budget Implications with Implementation of Tiered Dispatch & CERN
Implementation of the Community Emergency Response Network (CERN) Pilot:
According to BPD’s June 10, 2021 budget presentation to the City Council, the Department is currently holding $6.4 million in annual salary savings in 30 vacant positions (23 sworn/7 un-sworn) while the Reimagining Public Safety process plays out. These funds more than cover the costs of implementing a CERN pilot, which is estimated to cost $2.5 million.
Full Implementation of Tiered Dispatch and CERN:
BPD has 164 total sworn officers.27
According to a BPD presentation to the RPSTF, as of March 2021, there were 97 officers assigned to the Patrol Division, not including 16 reserve officers.
28 Based on NICJR’s assessment of Calls for Service (CFS), it was determined that 50% of CFS could be responsibly responded to by an alternative response program, like CERN. If fully implemented well, in stages to ensure safety and quality, Tiered Dispatch and CERN could result in a 50% reduction in the BPD’s Patrol Division.
Reduce BPD Patrol Division by 50%:
• Reducing the Patrol Division by 50% would equate to 49 officer positions. • We
suggest transferring 5 officers to the recommended Quality Assurance and Training Bureau under the new HALO initiative.
• We
suggest transferring another 5 officers to investigations to increase the solve rates of serious and violent crime.
• This
would leave 39 officer FTEs to eliminate.
• Cost per
officer: $245,656 annually
• St
ep 3 Median salary: $56.24 per hour x 2080 hrs (year of work) + 110% for benefits and other compensation (this fringe rate verified by City Administrator) • Does no
t include equipment costs (car, gun, computer, phone, protective equipment etc.) Savings:
• Eliminating 39 FTEs in the patrol division would generate an annual savings of $9,580,584. • These
dollars can be used to fund the CERN as well as increased investment in fundamental cause issues (education, housing, employment, drug treatment, mental health, etc). 26 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2019/09_Sep/Documents/2019-09-24_Item_41_Pathways_STAIR_ Center__First_Year_Data_Evaluation.aspx
27 Quick Facts - City of Berkeley, CA
28 Berkeley Patrol Operations (cityofberkeley.info)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 22 Time Frame:
• Reallocate funds from current vacant BPD positions to fund the CERN pilot and investment in community based servic
es as identified in the Reinvest section of this report. • 23 curren
t sworn vacancies x $245,656 = $5,650,08829
• Three CERN teams (which would serve one CERN district for 24 hours) have an estimated annual cost o
f $1.26 million (see Example CERN Budget in Appendix B) • The
proposed pilot includes 6 CERN teams (two districts, one team per shift for three shifts a day) for an estimated annual cost of $2.52 million
• BPD A
nnual attrition rate: 17 officers per year at annual savings of $4,176,152. • With
the annual attrition savings: Expand CERN each year by 6 CERN teams (doubling each district’s staff or dividing the city into three districts) at an estimated cost of $2.52 million and invest the remaining $1.65 million in community-based services.
•
Though
the final decision will have to be determined by the outcomes of the pilot, NICJR estimates a fully implemented CERN in Berkeley would have:
• 3 CERN
Districts: 2 teams per shift, per district for a total of 6 teams per shift across the 3 districts, for a total of 18 teams.
• 18 CERN teams = estima
ted cost of $7.59 million.
• Full implemen
tation can be achieved two years after the pilot is initiated. • Tw
o years of attrition equals 34 eliminated positions, 5 positions short of the full 39 identified as able to safely reduce from the Patrol Division. Revaluation after two years can determine the need for those 5 positions or move forward with elimination to increase investment in community-based services.
A Note about Violent Crime: (Update by BPD on 10/19/21) • In 2020, total Part One crime in Berkeley decreased by 11% overall. • Part
One Violent Crime decreased by 13% (81 crimes), and Part One Property Crimes decreased by 11% (738 crimes).
• In
the first six months of 2021, total Part One crime in Berkeley decreased by 12% overall compared to the same timeframe in the prior year. Part One Violent Crime decreased by 10% (29 crimes), and Part One Property Crimes decreased by 12% (362 crimes).
•
Homicides
increased from zero in 2019, to five murders in 2020. There were no homicides in the first six months of 2021.
• Robberies decr
eased by 26% with 274 incidents as compared to 369 in 2019. • In
the first half of 2021, robberies decreased by 1% with 148 incidents as compared to 150 in the same timeframe in 2020.
• Shoo
tings: There were 40 confirmed shooting incidents in 2020 versus 28 in 2019. There were 38 confirmed shooting incidents in the first nine months of 2021 versus 26 incidents in the same timeframe in 2020.
•
Con
firmed shooting incidents include loud report calls where shell casings or other evidence of gunfire is found. In 2019 and 2020, arrests were made in at least a third of these incidents. 29 Budget (cityofberkeley.info)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 23 End Pretextual Stops
Pretextual or “pretext” traffic stops occur when police officers stop a driver for a minor violation, like vehicle equipment failure, and then try to leverage that opportunity to find evidence of a more significant crime, or when officers have made the stop on a low level violation assuming the driver or vehicle occupants are guilty of more serious offenses the officer is trying to find. A recent evaluation of 100 million traffic encounters demonstrated that Black and Latino drivers experience higher rates of pretextual stops and searches. 30 However, most of
these stops do not actually yield any contraband or weapons.31 Because the nature of pretextual stops relies heavily on officer discretion, there is a high likelihood that implicit racial biases come into play. Such stops that end in violence or death disproportionately affect Black and Latino drivers. 32 Despite public concern, elimination of pretextual stops does not increase crime rates. An analysis by the police department in Fayetteville, North Carolina showed that violent crime was not affected after the police department reformed its use of pretextual stops.
33 Pretextual stops are in the process of being regulated in many states across the country. Oregon’s Supreme Court ruled in November 2019 that it was unconstitutional for police to stop a driver and proceed to ask unrelated questions, thereby effectively banning pretextual stops. 34 Virginia policymakers recently passed a
bill restricting pretextual stops.35 Other legislation has been introduced across the country that prevents police officers from conducting certain types of pretextual stops including, for example, broken tail or brake lights, objects obstructing the rearview mirror, and tinted windows. 36 Advocates of these bills state the proposed
limitations would decrease racial incongruities in traffic stops.37 The Berkeley City Council has already approved the formation of BerkDOT in order to address and decrease the frequency of pretextual traffic stops. 38 The City Council also approved the recommendations of the Mayor’s Workgroup on Fair and Impartial Policing, which included the elimination of pretext stops.
BerkDOT
Another element of the George Floyd Act passed by the Berkeley City Council was to create the Berkeley Department of Transportation (BerkDOT), the purpose of which would be to enhance safety and mobility in Berkeley. Although California law does not currently allow for an alternative response to traffic stops, the vision for the new civilian-staffed BerkDOT combines the current Public Works Department’s above-ground street and sidewalk planning, maintenance, and engineering responsibilities and the current transportation- related BPD functions of parking enforcement, traffic law enforcement, school crossing guard management, and collision response, investigation, data collection, analysis, and reporting. 30 https:/ /www.vera.org/blog/ending-pretextual-stops-is-an-important-step-toward-racial-justice 31 https:/ /www.law.upenn.edu/live/files/7898-rudovskyoslj 32 https:/ /www.berkeleyside.org/2021/03/02/opinion-for-berkeley-to-reimagine-public-safety-we-must-grapple-with-traffic- enforcement
33 https:/ /injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-019-0227-6 34 https:/ /www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-supreme-court-bans-police-officers-random-questions/ 35 https:/ /lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+HB5058 36 https:/ /theappeal.org/traffic-enforcement-without-police/ 37 https:/ /www.dailypress.com/news/crime/dp-nw-northam-legislation-traffic-20201021-3f2tmucyl5csdmbhhv2zh3atya-story.html 38 https:/ /www.berkeleyside.com/2021/03/02/opinion-for-berkeley-to-reimagine-public-safety-we-must-grapple-with-traffic- enforcement
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 24 IMPROVE
This section focuses on how BPD and the public safety system in Berkeley can improve its quality, increase its accountability, and become more transparent. NICJR recommends the following improvement strategies:
• Implemen
tation of HALO
• Cr
eation of Bay Area Progressive Police Academy
• Implemen
t additional police reform measures: Increase diversity of BPD leadership; Increase standards for Field Training Officers; and further amend the BPD Use of Force policy Highly Accountable Learning Organization
During community listening sessions with Black, LatinX, system-impacted, and unstably housed / food-insecure
residents there was a common perception amongst
participants that the BPD is racist and classist. They
expressed feeling targeted and unsafe with a militarized, aggressive approach to policing by BPD.
39 A Highly Accountable Learning Organization (HALO) is one that holds staff accountable and continues to learn and grow. A HALO police department is one where staff hold each other accountable, where management trains, coaches, and encourages staff and admonishes and disciplines when necessary. A HALO police department continually learns and improves its performance. It immediately responds to poor performance, critical incidents, and problematic staff with accountability, learning, training, and correction. A HALO police department provides significantly more training than the minimum required by the California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
NICJR recommends that the Berkeley Police Department become a Highly Accountable Learning Organization.
BPD’s HALO initiative would include the following:
•
Implemen
tation of a peer intervention program like EPIC and ABLE which train officers to intervene when they observe fellow officers engaged in inappropriate behavior. • In
line with recommendations from the Mayor’s Task Force on Fair and Impartial Policing which were adopted by the Council, BPD should implement or improve on the Early Intervention System (EIS).
The EIS should be designed to catch problematic officers early and provide appropriate training and correction or discipline and dismissal.
•
Cr
eation of Quality Assurance and Training Division: Significantly expand the current Training Unit and develop a Quality Assurance and Training Division that provides additional training, reviews body worn camera footage, and reviews critical incidents and complaints to develop officer and squad specific trainings.
•
Incr
ease Transparency: Provide regular reports to the public and increase the open data portal.
Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC)
The EPIC program is a peer-to-peer intervention strategy that was created by the police department in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2016. EPIC involves training officers to be accountable to each other and to intervene before an unlawful act takes place, irrespective of hierarchy. This initiative aims to alter the culture surrounding policing in order to limit police misbehavior and promote a collaborative environment. 40 39 Page 38 of the Community engagement report
40 http:/ /epic.nola.gov/home/
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 25 The EPIC program is founded on active bystandership psychology, which explains that active bystanders intercede when they are made aware of problematic behavior. EPIC training allows officers to overcome factors that may prevent them from intervening. These factors include a lack of confidence in their ability to deescalate a situation, uneasiness about potential retribution, and worry about breaking an unwritten code of silence.
41 Leadership in police departments who participate in the EPIC program must be committed to changing their organizational culture. Police departments implementing EPIC must provide education, training, and on-going learning and support to officers for the initiative to be successful. EPIC can also integrate with other initiatives to boost officer well-being, including counseling and trauma assistance as well as stress reduction education. 42 Data has shown that police departments where EPIC programs have been implemented have better community relations, lower rates of misconduct, and lower rates of public grievances. The majority of the feedback from New Orleans police officers has also been positive.
43 Moreover, there is strong research that peer intervention is effective when successful strategies for interceding are provided.44 Project Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project ABLE is a joint effort between the Georgetown Innovative Policing Program and the Sheppard Mullin law firm to train officers to be able to properly intervene in a crisis situation and promote a policing atmosphere that reinforces peer intervention. Project ABLE is based on the principles of the New Orleans EPIC Peer Intervention Program and curriculum created by Dr. Ervin Staub for California law enforcement.
Through Georgetown, law enforcement agencies are able to receive training in Project ABLE along with a host of other resources to assist them in advancing their own bystandership strategies. 45 46 The training consists
of a minimum of a one-time, eight hour ABLE-specific training along with a minimum of two hours of annual refresher training.
47 All of these resources are provided to law enforcement agencies free of charge.
Project ABLE’s aim is to reduce police misconduct and errors and assist in improving officer health and well- being. In order to prevent any retaliation from occurring to those officers who intervene, police departments must implement stringent anti-retaliation guidelines. Since its inception, over 70 police departments have enlisted in Project ABLE.
48 Research has shown that there are many advantages to the implementation of significant bystander training.
This is critical because most police departments have a culture that dissuades officers from intervening when they see problematic behaviors.
49 Identified benefits include a decrease in violence to civilians, a decrease in violence to police officers, enhanced relationships between community residents and the police officers, and growth in officer well-being.
50 Evidence also suggests a strong correlation between departments that maintain robust duty to intervene protocols and decreased rates of police deaths per capita.
BPD should join the ABLE program to receive training and technical assistance and use the new Quality Assurance and Training Bureau discussed below to ensure the department adheres to the training, principles, and practices of the program.
41 http:/ /epic.nola.gov/epic/media/Assets/EPIC-Overview.pdf 42 Id.
43 https:/ /www.apa.org/monitor/2017/10/police-misconduct 44 https:/ /epic.nola.gov/epic/media/Assets/Aronie-Lopez,-Keeping-Each-Other-Safe.pdf 45 https:/ /www.law.georgetown.edu/cics/able/
46 https:/ /www.law.georgetown.edu/innovative-policing-program/active-bystandership-for-law-enforcement/our-mission/ 47 https:/ /www.law.georgetown.edu/innovative-policing-program/active-bystandership-for-law-enforcement/able-program-standards/ 48 https:/ /www.wsj.com/articles/nypd-officers-to-get-training-on-speaking-up-against-bad-policing-11611838809 49 https:/ /assets.foleon.com/eu-west-2/uploads-7e3kk3/41697/pdf_-_duty_to_intervene.6e39a04b07b6.pdf 50 https:/ /www.law.georgetown.edu/innovative-policing-program/active-bystandership-for-law-enforcement/able-program-standards/
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 26 Early Intervention System
Early intervention systems (EIS) — also known as Early Warning System (EWS) or Early Warning and Intervention System (EWIS) — can be thought of as a personnel management or risk management tool designed to identify potential problematic behavior that puts the individual, organization, and/or community at risk. These systems consolidate a variety of data as well as indicators to analyze for potentially problematic behavior as early as possible. Indicators include but are not limited to: use of force incidents; citizen complaints; and disciplinary history. Identification of habitual misconduct by officers is often accomplished through a “peer officer comparison system” where officers assigned to the same beat are juxtaposed. 51 Once an officer is identified by
the EIS for habitual misconduct, training, supports, and services to aid the officer are provided to encourage officer wellbeing and aid in behavioral change that is consistent with organizational and community goals.
Continued monitoring of officer progress, as well as frequent reviews of EIS data, is necessary for successful implementation.
52 The collection and analysis of aggregate data within EIS is also recommended to be utilized to identify problem areas within teams, units, departments, or entire organizations.
Examples of areas that EIS commonly tracks are:
Performance category Possible considerations
Arrests, especially excessive
‘discretionary’ arrests
May signify underlying bias of officer or over-zealousness; or could be due to agency reinforcement of arrests as a “good statistic” (therefore an agency-level problem)
Traffic Stops May highlight concern over bias if indicative of profiling, may be due to agency reinforcement of arrests as a “good statistic” (therefore an agency- level problem)
Use of force by type (e.g.,
baton, pepper spray, gun, etc.
Limited use of less lethal may indicate underlying fear or lack of confidence in ability to resolve encounters with a minimal amount of force. May uncover bias, overly aggressive tendencies, lack of verbal ability, lack of skill or training in de-escalation.
In February 2021, the Mayor’s Task Force on Fair and Impartial Policing recommended the implementation of an EIS and outlined the following seven areas in which the EIS should focus:
1. Ev
aluate and assess stop incidents for legality and enforcement yield.
2. Analyz
e data to determine whether racial disparities are generalized across the force or are concentrated in a smaller subset of outlier officers or squads/groups of officers. To the extent that the problem is generalized across the department, supervisors as well as line officers should be re-trained and monitored, and department recruitment, training, and structure should be reviewed. In addition, department policy should be examined for their impacts.
3. Wher
e disparities are concentrated in an individual or a group of officers, with no race-neutral legitimate evidence for this behavior in specific cases, initiate an investigation to determine the cause for the disparity.
Evaluate whether there are identifiable causes contributing to racially disparate stop rates and high or low rates of resulting enforcement actions exhibited by outlying officers. Determine and address any trends and patterns among officers with disparate stop rates In the risk management process, the responsible 51 https:/ /samuelwalker.net/issues/early-intervention-systems/ 52 https:/ /www.policefoundation.org/publication/best-practices-in-early-intervention-system-implementation-and-use-in-law- enforcement-agencies/
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 27 personnel in the chain of command reviews and discusses the available information about the subject officer and the officer’s current behavior.
4. Absen
t a satisfactory explanation for racially disparate behavior, monitor the officer. Options for the supervisor in these cases include reviewing additional body-worn camera footage, supervisor ride-alongs, and other forms of monitoring. Further escalation to intervention, if necessary, may include a higher form of supervision, with even closer oversight. If performance fails to improve, command should consider other options including breaking up departmental units, transfer of officers to other responsibilities, etc.
The goal of this process is to achieve trust and better community relations between the department as a whole and all the people in Berkeley. Formal discipline is always a last resort unless there are violations of Department General Orders, in which case this becomes an IAB matter.
5. Iden
tify officers who may have problems affecting their ability to make appropriate judgments, and monitor and reduce time pressures, stress and fatigue on officers.
6. An
outside observer from the PRC shall sit in on the risk management and/or EIS program. Reports from these meetings, or other accurate statistical summary, can be given to the commission without identifying any officers’ names.
7. Report the r
esults of this data analysis quarterly.
In response to the Fair and Impartial Policing recommendations, BPD has indicated it is implementing an EIS for traffic, bike, and pedestrian stops, which is a very good start. NICJR recommends that the EIS should also be expanded to assess all Use of Force incidents, complaints, and information gleaned from the Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage reviewed by the Quality Assurance and Training Bureau described below.
Quality Assurance and Training Bureau
In order for BPD to become and maintain a Highly Accountable Learning Organization, it must have an internal accountability and continual improvement process and structure. To this end, as a part of the HALO initiative, NICJR recommends that BPD either expand its current Personnel and Training Bureau or create a new Quality Assurance and Training (QAT) Bureau. The QAT Bureau would be responsible for supporting officers and personnel throughout the Department to maintain and increase high standards and professionalism, as well as quickly detect and correct any patterns of misconduct.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 28 The QAT Bureau should examine every complaint filed, every Use of Force, and regularly examine BWC footage to assess where individual officers, squads, and the entire Department need additional training, specialized training, and coaching, to address the specific deficiency discovered through the complaint, incident, or pattern observed.
Unlike current operations, if the QAT Bureau observed discourteous treatment by an officer, they would be authorized and required to pull that officer into a special training and/or coaching session. The QAT Bureau would then review the BWC footage of officers in that squad to determine if there was an issue with the entire squad and sergeant.
The QAT Bureau would also increase the number and quality of trainings currently offered in the Department.
POST, which oversees mandated training of officers in California, only requires 40 hours of training per year, but local departments can go beyond that minimum. Under the HALO initiative, BPD officers should receive far more training than the minimum POST requirements. In addition to more training, the QAT unit would provide not just one-size fits all training to a group of officers, but specifically tailored training to individual officers and squads based on their needed improvements or after critical incidents.
BPD has conducted a number of good trainings for its officers and non-sworn staff, including: Fair and Impartial Policing; Principled Policing; Bias Based; Communication-Keeping Your Edge; and Implicit Bias (a full listing of the trainings BPD provided to NICJR is in Appendix D). Based on the information BPD provided, there has not been a single Fair and Impartial Policing training in five and a half years, and not one held for all officers for the past seven.
Increased training and education programs are frequently promoted to police departments to help improve the quality of policing and support officers in gaining new skills. As noted by two Columbia Law School professors in an article on police reform, “... training does not take root unless officers are held accountable for obeying the rules and practicing the skills they are taught.” 53 Training alone is not adequate to transform a
police department or change the behavior of an officer. But combined with culture change, new policies and accountability, training can be an effective tool to improve and reform the police. 54 One of the trainings BPD should add for all officers is a full day Procedural Justice course. According to the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services, “Procedural justice refers to the idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes and allocate resources. It is a concept that, when embraced, promotes positive organizational change and bolsters better relationships.” 55 A comprehensive evaluation of procedural justice trainings found that “training increased officer support for all of the procedural justice dimensions. Post-training, officers were more likely to endorse the importance of giving citizens a voice, granting them dignity and respect, demonstrating neutrality, and (with the least enthusiasm) trusting them to do the right thing.”
56 Several evaluations of procedural justice have found the education has been correlated with an improvement in relations between a community and a police department. In Oakland, CA, the police department trained all officers in procedural justice and provided specialized procedural justice training to the department’s gun violence reduction unit. Oakland’s police department was also the first department in the country to have members of the community teach a portion of the procedural justice training. BPD should increase its use of local community members providing training to officers.
To implement the QAT Bureau, NICJR recommends that BPD transfer five officers from the patrol division and two civilian staff into what is now the Personnel and Training Bureau and rename it the Quality Assurance 53 https:/ /www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/19/the-new-new-policing 54 https:/ /nicjr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GeneralNewAndEmergingReport.pdf 55 https:/ /cops.usdoj.gov/prodceduraljustice
56 https:/ /www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/training-police-for-procedural-justice
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 29 and Training Bureau and amend the duties
of those officers to achieve the above goals.
With the implementation of the Tiered
Dispatch model, the patrol division will have
significantly less work load and officers can
be reassigned to other duties, like the QAT
Bureau.
Increased training hours will require
negotiation with the union and the City
Manager’s Office will have to engage with
the Meet and Confer process to implement
these changes.
Greater Transparency
The issues of accountability and transparency
in policing are intertwined and efforts to address each often include both. There are, however, specific efforts that work to daylight information about departmental activities as well as individual officers’ behaviors for the purposes of identifying patterns and problems.
BPD should provide semi-annual reports to the public on stops, arrests, complaints, and uses of force, including totals, by race and gender, by area of the city, and other aggregate outcomes.
The Oakland Police Department (OPD) recently implemented a series of Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence) dashboards that allow for a precise review of police behavior. Working with Slalom, a data consulting firm, OPD has increased transparency and accountability through data analysis. Patterns of enforcement, historical activity, and performance over time are all monitored in close to real-time. 57 The dashboards were created with input from OPD staff and leadership, community based organizations, other law enforcement agencies, and Stanford University’s SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real- world Questions). Each dashboard can be accessed by OPD leadership, depending on security clearance. The dashboards have a simple interface, allowing supervisors to access and understand the data easily. Police supervisors can access a variety of data, from long-term information to arrests made within the last twenty- four hours.
58 Dashboards allow for an easy breakdown of incidents by factors including race, gender, ethnicity, and officer. This permits police departments to monitor problematic patterns and address them quickly.59 One necessary improvement with these systems is allowing the public access to the information.
Bay Area Progressive Police Academy
The following section of this report provides detailed research, components, and recommendations to support the development of a Bay Area Progressive Police Academy (BAPPA) to address what has been identified as a significant and stark mismatch between the primary reasons for calls for service and the training that officers receive to appropriately respond to those calls.
A progressive training program like BAPPA understands, values, and reinforces through the appropriate proportion of skill building and practice that first and foremost an officer must create a positive relationship with the community and that relationships are built on communication and personal interaction. BAPPA instructors would teach using guidance, coaching, and feedback, rather than humiliation or demands for 57 https:/ /www.slalom.com/case-studies/city-oakland-creating-police-transparency-and-trust-data 58 https:/ /medium.com/slalom-data-analytics/data-is-the-new-sheriff-in-town-but-is-it-biased-4aa140904dd7 59 https:/ /cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Police-Commission-7.23.20-Agenda-Packet.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 30 compliance. The approach emphasizes critical thinking, active and engaged learning, and thoughtful, informed, and quick analysis. It also prioritizes a strong understanding of human behavior including behaviors exhibited by individuals experiencing high degrees of stress, shock, trauma, or in more extreme circumstances, a mental health crisis, and integrates real-life scenarios and debriefs that teach which responses are likely to escalate or de-escalate a situation.
The BAPPA structure would be centered on adult learning models and focus on the demonstrated acquisition and application of well-practiced skill as opposed to rote memorization. The content of the curriculum will include honest discussions about civil rights, the Constitution, what it means to connect to, uphold, and exhibit the values inherent in a community guardian, and to serve a community in which you are responding to highly vulnerable, rather than just potentially threatening people. The program’s focus is to hold both officer safety and public trust in equal proportions -- not in competition or as mutually exclusive.
Although activists’ concerns and complaints dominate the headlines, when asked to reflect on the relevance and utility of their academy experience, much of the criticism has come from officers themselves. 60 61 Police
administrators have also expressed that they do not believe that police academy training is sufficient in preparing officers for the reality of the work they are asked to do. 62 The general disconnect between academy training and job preparation tends to revolve around two interrelated topics concerning the content and delivery of academy curriculum: 1) the typical paramilitary format fails to prepare recruits to work in a manner consistent with the community-oriented police services model; and 2) it is delivered in a manner that is inconsistent with basic principles of adult-learning theory and styles.
Essentially, in order to produce officers who are able to successfully perform community-oriented policing techniques (e.g., proactive collaboration with community members), police academies must train recruits to be independent, creative problem solvers who are connected to the human impact of their decisions and see their role as a guardian, not a warrior.
63 According to a resolution authored by Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett and co-sponsored by Mayor Jesse Arreguin in June 2020:
“Berkeley Police Department recruits currently train at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office Academy Training Center, Sacramento Police Academy, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Justice Training Center, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Academy Training Center. Unfortunately, these facilities are paramilitary in structure, potentially instilling the warrior mentality that forces a divide between law enforcement and the public and promotes fear. Additionally, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office’s history of using military technology, deploying armored vehicles, equipping deputies with automatic rifles, and support for Urban Shield casts doubt on the ability of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Regional Training Center in Dublin to train cadets in a progressive, non-paramilitary manner.” The resolution goes on to say:
“Rooting out the paramilitary aspect of policing begins with transforming police training. It necessitates equipping officers with practical and effective decision-making methods that prioritize de-escalation and reserve use of force as a last resort. It necessitates teaching police officers that they have the power and the choice to perpetuate or defeat injustice. It necessitates engaging officers with the history of their profession and challenging their socioeconomic and racial biases.” 64 60 https:/ /www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13639519810206600/full/html 61 https:/ /psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-29889-001
62 https:/ /heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/injposcim4&div=25&id=&page= 63 https:/ /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950698/#B2-ijerph-16-04941 64 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Progressive%20Police%20Academy%20June%202020.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 31 Unfortunately, the approach in which
most police academies continue to be
conducted is in a paramilitary fashion.
This means that recruits are held
to a high standard of discipline and
regimentation seemingly for discipline
and regimentation sake. They utilize the
mentality of a warrior going to battle
and view the police force as being an
occupying army. This approach has been
referred to as the “warrior mentality”
for many years. Instilled or reinforced
in police officers at the academy, the
warrior concept is saturated throughout
police culture. Another, more insidious
problem in a military-style academy is the
behavior modeled by academy staff. Those without power (recruits) submit without question to the authority of those who have power (academy staff). In this way, academy training staff are often indistinguishable from military drill sergeants, who verbally harass and even demean recruits who are not measuring up. 65 Pushups,
extra running, and writing reports are used as punishment for failure to demonstrate skills and/or properly follow directions. Although this type of approach can sometimes build camaraderie, it has not been shown to effectively build recruits’ skill. There are, however, many other ways to build camaraderie while achieving the primary goal of improving the recruit’s skill and ability to do their job. What the paramilitary model has been shown to do is contribute to a fairly high dropout rate. This is especially true in organizations that have implemented newer hiring practices that recruit more mature individuals, with advanced degrees and whose education, training, and life experience has taught them to ask questions, critically analyze, debate, and discuss rather than just follow orders. Which means that the paramilitary training model results in high drop-out or failure rates amongst the very recruits departments are attempting to attract and retain.
The contrast to the warrior mentality is the guardian mentality, which promotes community engagement, the establishment of meaningful relationships, and providing support to residents. The notion of being a guardian or protector of the public is a noble one, one in which trust and respect can replace fear and intimidation.
If police agencies are committed to hiring officers who will do things differently and exemplify the guardian qualities, they must create agencies that exhibit those same qualities and train recruits in a manner that reinforces them.
NICJR recommends that the preceding information be used to develop a Bay Area Progressive Police Academy built on adult learning concepts and focused on helping recruits develop the psychological skills and values necessary to perform their complex and stressful jobs in a manner that reflects the guardian mentality. In order to leverage resources as well as build a regional approach, BAPPA is proposed as a partnership between area cities that may have similar goals to transform their police departments, which may include: Berkeley, Albany, and potentially Oakland.
65 Couper, D.C., Arrested Development: A Veteran Police Chief Sounds Off About Protest, Racism, Corruption and the Seven Steps Necessary to Improve Our Nation’s Police, Indianapolis, Indiana: Dog Ear Publishing, 2011.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 32 Other Police Reform Measures:
Increase Diversity of BPD Leadership
Overall, BPD has a relatively diverse sworn staff as it relates to Berkeley’s demographics in terms of race and ethnicity. But there is a significant disparity in gender, with males making up 86 percent of sworn staff. BPD also only tracks gender as male or female; this should be changed. Another concern is that, of the 13 executive staff in the Department (Lieutenants/Captains/Chief), nine are white, three are Asian, one is Black, and none are Latinx (a chart of BPD personnel by race and rank is in Appendix E). Intentional focus on increasing the racial and gender diversity of BPD line staff and leadership will be important in the near term.
Increase Standards for Field Training Officers
The Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd was a Field Training Officer (FTO) despite having 13 previous complaints leveled against him and he was involved in three previous shootings.
BPD should amend its policy to disallow any officer from becoming a Field Training Officer who has either more than two complaints or any one sustained complaint in any 12 month period.
Further Amend the BPD Use of Force Policy
NICJR recommends that BPD’s Use of Force policies be revised to limit any use of deadly force as a last resort to situations where a suspect is clearly armed with a deadly weapon and is using or threatening to use the deadly weapon against another person. All other force must be absolutely necessary and proportional.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 33 REINVEST
Berkeley is an affluent city with resources, one of the most well regarded academic institutions in the country, and a progressive electorate that supports social programs. Unfortunately, this combination of assets has not resulted in appropriate and sustained investment in the most vulnerable populations in the city.
The City of Berkeley must increase its investment in communities, families, and individuals who: live in poverty, are unhoused, are unemployed, are underemployed, have mental health challenges, and/or have substance abuse challenges. Particular attention to racial and ethnic intersectionality with respect to these socio-economic demographic characteristics is critically important (especially in relation to Black and Latinx communities). The Community Engagement Report, Appendix J, includes a wealth of input and ideas for investment from many of Berkeley’s most vulnerable populations. The information contained in this report can serve an ongoing benefit in addressing the needs of the community and its unique diversity.
When the Tiered Dispatch/CERN model is fully implemented, up to 50 percent of calls for service in the City can be diverted to a non-police response, allowing for BPD staffing to be responsibly and safely reduced and the Department’s budget to be significantly reallocated.
Even before the BPD budget can be reduced and reallocated, the City should use General Fund dollars and other revenue sources to increase investment in “fundamental cause” drivers of trauma, crime, and violence.
These fundamental causes include, but are not limited to:
•
Po
verty
• Homelessness
• Educa
tion
• Substanc
e Abuse
• Unemplo
yment and underemployment
NICJR recommends that the City take the following measures to increase investment in vulnerable communities and fundamental cause issues:
•
Launch a
Guaranteed Income program to provide monthly stipends to individuals and families living under the poverty level
• Launch a Community
Beautification Employment Program
• Incr
ease Funding for Community Based Organizations
Guaranteed Income
The poverty rates from the national to the local level show deepening poverty levels as we get closer to home.
In 2019, the national poverty rate was 10.5 percent and in California it was 11.8 percent. 66 Drilling down, we
find that Alameda County’s poverty rate was 14.1 percent and that Berkeley’s was 19.2 percent.67 The 2019 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that nearly 36 percent of Black and 24 percent of Latino residents live below the poverty line, compared to only 12 percent of white residents. 68 Consistent with those findings, immigrant Californians experienced a poverty rate of 21.6 percent, compared to 14.4 percent for non-immigrants, and poverty among undocumented immigrants was 35.7 percent. More 66 https:/ /www.statista.com/statistics/205434/poverty-rate-in-california/ 67 https:/ /www.census.gov/quickfacts/berkeleycitycalifornia 68 https:/ /www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 34 than one in five (21.4 percent) Latinos lived in poverty, compared to 17.4 percent of African Americans, 14.5 percent of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and 12.1 percent of whites.69 While Guaranteed Income or Universal Basic Income (UBI) programs have recently become popular in the United States, the state of Alaska has a program that provides regular unconditional payments to residents.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Casino Dividend in North Carolina has given every tribal member between $4,000 and $6,000 per year since 1997. Studies of both efforts have shown a reduction in crime associated with the unconditional cash payments. These findings have been replicated in international studies, including one in Namibia which showed a direct correlation between UBI and crime reduction. There are smaller pilot efforts currently underway in the United States. Oakland recently launched a Guaranteed Income program and San Francisco is starting in 2022. In Jackson, Mississippi, Springboard to Opportunities and the Magnolia Mothers Trust are giving $1,000 per month to Black mothers.
In Stockton, California, 125 residents have been receiving $500 per month, since February 2019. Former Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs launched the initiative in the city and championed several Mayors from across the country in coming together to pledge to launch UBI initiatives in their cities through Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. A preliminary study of the Guaranteed Income program in Stockton found several positive outcomes, including that recipients were “healthier, showing less depression and anxiety and enhanced well-being.” 70 Berkeley should launch a Guaranteed Income pilot program similar to other cities in the region. The pilot program should select a subpopulation of 200 Black and Latinx families that have children under 10 years of age and have household incomes below $50,000. These families should be provided a monthly stipend of $750 at an annual cost to the City of $1.8 million, a sum that can be taken from: the General Fund; federal funding already received or forthcoming, or the soon to be passed Infrastructure Bill; or raised through philanthropy akin to the approach in other cities.
Community Beautification Employment Program
NICJR recommends that the City launch a crew-based employment program, or expand an existing program that employs formerly incarcerated and unhoused people to help beautify their own neighborhood. Hire and train no less than 100 formerly incarcerated and unhoused Berkeley residents to conduct Community Beautification services, including: blight abatement, tree planting, plant and maintain community gardens, make and track 311 service requests, and other community beautification projects.” has been changed to 69 https:/ /www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
70 SEED_Preliminary+Analysis-SEEDs+First+Year_Final+Report_Individual+Pages+.pdf (squarespace.com)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 35 “blight abatement, tree planting, planting and maintenance of community gardens, making and tracking 311 service requests, and other community beautification projects.
There are many Berkeley and Bay Area CBOs that are capable of implementing this program, including the Center for Employment Opportunity (CEO) that operates a crew-based employment program for people on probation in Alameda County or BOSS, which has also provided similar services. However, this program would be focused on beautifying Berkeley neighborhoods and employing Berkeley residents.
A recent study showed that community beautification efforts in Philadelphia had a direct impact in reducing violence in those neighborhoods.
71 Under AB 109 Criminal Justice Realignment, each year Alameda County receives an allotment of funds from the state to serve adults in the community who are under probation supervision and for other related operations.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has mandated that half of those funds be allocated to community based services. In fiscal year 2019-2020, Alameda County received more than $50 million in Realignment funds from the state, with $25 million of it dispersed to community services. 72 According to Alameda County Probation Department data, five percent of probation caseloads are from Berkeley. Of the annual $25 million in Realignment funds allocated to community services each year, 5%, or $1.25 million, should be spent on Berkeley residents. CEO also provides a crew based employment program in Oakland, which serves 80 people at an annual cost of $345,000. If Berkeley receives its fair share of Realignment funding, it would more than cover the cost of the Community Beautification Employment program.
Increase Funding to Community Based Organizations
CBOs that provide services to those who are unhoused, live in poverty, have mental health challenges, have substance abuse challenges, are system-involved, and/or are LGBTQ should receive an increase in funding using Reinvest dollars. A list of Berkeley CBOs that provide such services are included as Appendix F.
For FY 2022, the City of Berkeley plans to spend $20,484,394 to support CBOs; this allocation level represents a 22 percent decrease from the $26,311,113 amount allocated to these organizations in FY 2021. 73 At the same
time, BPD’s FY 2022 budget saw an increase, from $65,460,524 (adopted FY21) to $73,228,172 (proposed FY22), an 11.9 percent increase.
74 Increased funding can come from Measure W funds (described below); when the BPD’s budget is gradually reduced; the soon to be passed Infrastructure Bill; and concerted efforts to increase philanthropic dollars.
Many Foundations, locally and nationally, are interested and have funded Reimagine Public Safety efforts. If the City of Berkeley adopts the innovative measures in this report and through other efforts being developed from the George Floyd Act, it will attract greater investment from philanthropy.
The City of Berkeley should increase funding to CBOs in one of two ways:
•
An acr
oss the board 25% increase of grant amounts to currently funded CBOs • Cr
eate a local government agency to be the centralized point of coordination, such as a Department of Community Development to develop a detailed plan to increase the investment in local CBOs that provide services to address fundamental cause issues. 71 Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear | PNAS 72 http:/ /www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_12_12_19/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20 Calendar/item_3_AB_109_rpt_12_12_19.pdf
73 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf 74 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 36 In Oakland, the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force recommended a $20 million increase in funding to CBOs to be distributed through the Department of Violence Prevention. In response, the City Council allocated $17 million to DVP and required the Department to develop a plan on how to disperse the funds to local CBOs.
Berkeley could do something similar through the creation of the Department of Community Development.
Measure W
In November of 2020 Alameda County voters passed Measure W, a sales tax measure that is anticipated to generate $150 million per year to provide housing and services for the unhoused. The funds are to be distributed geographically based on the number and percentage of unhoused individuals in each jurisdiction.
The measure will establish a half percent (0.5%) sales tax increase for 10 years to provide essential County services such as housing, mental health services, job training, and other social safety services. Funded housing programs will include rapid rehousing, ongoing rental subsidies, expanded emergency shelters, and permanent supportive housing in certain cases.
As of 2019, there were approximately 1,108 unhoused people living in Berkeley, constituting 13.8 percent of Alameda County’s unhoused population.
75 Berkeley should therefore expect to receive 13.8 percent of the $150 million annually, which amounts to $20.7 million for housing and other social services. The measure contemplates annual audits and citizen oversight, program components that Berkeley residents can leverage to ensure adequate spending and care is provided to unhoused people and people experiencing mental health crises in Berkeley in addition to ensuring safe, secure housing. 75 Berkeley+Homeless+Count+2019.pdf (squarespace.com)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 37 Implement Advance Peace Program
Berkeley has a relatively low rate of gun violence, but has experienced an increase in the past year. As of December 9, 2021, Berkeley has had 48 confirmed calls regarding gunfire compared to the same time last year when 39 calls were recorded
76. This represents an increase of approximately 23 percent. When compared with the numbers from 2019 (28 incidents of confirmed gun violence), the increase is further magnified resulting in a 71 percent increase. NICJR recommends the City implement the renowned Advance Peace program.
Advance Peace is a nonprofit organization that focuses on achieving tangible reductions in cyclical and retaliatory firearm-related assaults and deaths. The organization was formed in response to an analysis done by the City Council in Richmond, CA that found gun violence disproportionately affected Black men aged 18-24, with that population constituting 73 percent of homicide fatalities. 77 This goal is achieved through the
implementation of strategic partnerships and interventions that strengthen neighborhood ties and promote community welfare. Advance Peace works to provide resources including life skills training and mentoring to individuals who are at greatest risk of being involved in gun violence.
Leveraging their relationships in the community, Advance Peace staff known as Neighborhood Change Agents (NCAs) conduct daily sweeps of their communities, an effort that provides a continuous flow of critical information that informs staff response. Advance Peace’s main program is the Peacemaker Fellowship, which provides transformational opportunities to young men involved in lethal firearm offenses by placing them in a high-touch, personalized fellowship. The Fellowship provides life coaching, mentoring, connection to needed services, and cultural and educational excursions to those deemed to be the very most dangerous individuals in the city. Fellows can also receive significant financial incentives for participation and positive behavior as a gateway to developing intrinsic motivation. Since the establishment of the ONS, firearm-related homicides have declined in Richmond by more than 70 percent. For individuals enrolled in the Peacemaker Fellowship, 77 percent have not been involved in any gun violence activity. 78 The Peacemaker Fellowship has been replicated
in the cities of Stockton and Sacramento, CA, with promising outcomes.79 Implementation of the Advance Peace program will cost the City approximately $500,000 per year. 76 https:/ /www.berkeleyside.org/2021/05/22/2021-berkeley-gunfire-map 77 https:/ /www.evidentchange.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/ons-process-evaluation.pdf 78 https:/ /www.advancepeace.org/about/the-solution/
79 https:/ /www.advancepeace.org/about/learning-evaluation-impact/
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 38 CONCLUSION
NICJR is proud to present this Final Report and Implementation Plan to the Mayor, City Council, City Manager and the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force.
The research and experience of NICJR and its partners; the feedback and input from the Task Force and City staff; and the engagement with and input from the community all culminated in the innovative ideas presented in this Final Report. This report and our recommendations provide a blueprint to move toward a public safety model that is community centered. As police reform efforts move forward, the City will have greater resources and additional information on continuing the process of mental health specialists and CBOs taking leadership of responding to the needs of the communities most impacted by the inequities in the current system and provide the necessary supportive resources for those in greatest need.
Through implementing the recommendations in this report and the other parallel processes (SCU, BerkDOT, etc), the City of Berkeley is poised to transform its public safety system, improve the outcomes of Berkeley residents, and become a national model for other cities to emulate.
By safely and responsibly reducing the footprint of law enforcement in Berkeley, vastly improving the quality of policing, and significantly increasing investment into community based services, Berkeley will have truly reimagined public safety.
NICJR would like to thank its partners: Bright Research Group, Pastor Michael Smith, Renne Public Law Group, and Jorge Camacho of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School. NICJR would also like to thank the Task Force, a group of passionate and committed volunteers who spent many hours working to make Berkeley a better city for all its residents. Lastly, NICJR thanks and appreciates all the members of the community who participated in a listening session, completed the survey, attended a community meeting, or in any way participated in this process.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 39 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
REDUCE
Recommendation Estimated Cost Funding Source Timeline
Establishment of a Tiered Dispatch/CERN
Pilot Program.
$2,532,000, plus some costs
associated with training for
Dispatch.
Current BPD vacant
positions.
Issue RFP 30 days
after City Council
approval, select
vendors 90-120 days
afterward, and begin
pilot six months after
City Council approval.
Contracting with local Community-Based
Organizations (CBOs).
Full Implementation of Tiered Dispatch/
CERN Pilot Program and reduction of
BPD patrol division of 50%.
$7,596,000 Reduction of BPD
Patrol Division by 50%.
Two years after
implementation of
the pilot initiative.
IMPROVE
Recommendation Cost Funding Source Timeline
Berkeley Police Department should
become a Highly Accountable Learning
Organization (HALO).
BPD should join the ABLE program to
receive training and technical assistance
and use the new Quality Assurance and
Training Bureau discussed below to
ensure the department adheres to the
training, principles, and practices of the
program.
Joining ABLE is free of cost. N/A Within six months of
approval from City
Council.
Expand the Early Intervention System
to assess all Use of Force incidents,
complaints, and information gleaned from
the Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage
reviewed by the Quality Assurance and
Training Bureau.
No additional costs. N/A Within six months of
approval from City
Council.
Transfer five officers from the patrol
division and two civilian staff into what is
now the Personnel and Training Bureau.
Rename it the Quality Assurance and
Training Bureau and amend the duties of
those officers to achieve the above goals.
No additional costs. N/A Within six months of
approval from City
Council.
BPD should provide semi-annual reports
to the public on stops, arrests, complaints,
and uses of force, including totals, by race
and gender, by area of the city, and other
aggregate outcomes.
Internal re-organization can
achieve this goal without
additional costs.
N/A First report should be
issued July 1, 2022.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 40 Develop a Bay Area Progressive Police
Academy (BAPPA).
An analysis of police
academies throughout the
Bay Area found that the
cost per student range is
roughly $4,300 - $4,600 per
student, with a significant
proportion of costs eligible
for reimbursement through
the Commission on Peace
Officers Standards and
Training (POST.) The
development of the BAPPA
would include certification
through POST in order to
satisfy State requirements.
NICJR recommends that
collaboration with Albany
and potentially Oakland be
explored.
Reduced BPD budget
through eliminating
patrol positions
through attrition,
revenue from partner
law enforcement
agencies.
Launch two years
after City Council
approval.
Revise BPD’s Use of Force policies to limit
any use of deadly force as a last resort
to situations where a suspect is clearly
armed with a deadly weapon and is using
or threatening to use the deadly weapon
against another person.
Training costs. Savings from
eliminating patrol
positions through
attrition.
Within six months of
approval from City
Council.
REINVEST
Recommendation Cost Funding Source Timeline
Launch a Guaranteed Income pilot
program.
$1,800,000 General Fund;
federal funding
already received or
forthcoming, from
the Infrastructure
Bill; or raised through
philanthropy akin to
the approach in other
cities.
Launch within six
months of approval
from City Council.
Launch a Community Beautification
Employment Program.
$1,250,000 5% of County Criminal
Justice Realignment
funds allocated to
community services for
Berkeley residents.
Launch one year after
approval from City
Council.
Increase Funding for Community-Based
Organizations.
$25,605,492.50 Measure W funds,
when the BPD’s budget
is gradually reduced;
the Infrastructure
Bill; and concerted
efforts to increase
philanthropic dollars.
FY 22-23.
Launch the Advance Peace Program $500,000 General fund Launch in first quarter of FY 2023,
on going for at least
three years.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 41 APPENDICES
A. Overview of Duties for CERN Positions
B. Example Annual CERN T eam Budget
C. Tiered Dispatch/CERN Pilot Calls for Service Summaries D. FIP and Related Course Training History
E. FY 2020 Year End Workforce Report
F. Community Based Organizations and Nonprofits Providing Services in Berkeley G. New and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing Report H. Berkeley Calls for Service Analysis
I. Alternative Responses Report
J. Community Engagement Report
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 42 APPENDIX A
Community Intervention
Specialist Position
Overview
42
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 43 A Community Intervention Specialist (CIS) responds
to non-criminal and low level 911 and other Calls for
Service (CFS) in Berkeley as a part of the Community
Emergency Response Network (CERN). CISs
help to address, mediate, and resolve challenges,
emergencies, conflicts, and other causes for CFS.
CISs will respond to a wide array of calls and situations and must engage the community in a thoughtful,
patient, serious and compassionate manner.
Although the work of a CIS will evolve as the CERN
develops and will always be dynamic and fluid, the
following are the general duties of a CIS:
•
Respond
to emergency and non-emergency calls
for services in Berkeley and attempt to resolve
the problem, like noise complaints and neighbor
disputes.
•
Use
mediation and de-escalation skills and tactics
to ease tensions and mediate conflict
• Help
those in need of support, including providing
water, food, and encouragement.
• Communica
te well with your team and with the
CERN dispatcher
• Use c
ompassion and empathy when engaging
with the community and those in crisis
• If
a situation escalates and proves dangerous and/
or a deadly weapon is involved, call for an officer
to respond
•
Writ
e notes and reports and perform other
administrative tasks
Necessary Qualifications
• Experience working in diverse communities
• Experience
working in crisis and/or high stressful
situations
• Experience
with mediation
• Lived
experience in the justice system and/or
neighborhood groups is welcome and encouraged
• Works in a pr
ofessional manner
• Is
energetic and passionate about serving the
community
• Pr
oficient in writing and use of a computer
• Bachelor’
s degree, preferably in social work or
public health field, or no less than five years of
experience relevant to this position
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 44 APPENDIX B
Example Annual
CERN T eam Budget
44
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 45 Personnel FTE %
ED or other Org Manager 25% $50,000.00
CERN Supervisor 100% $90,000.00
CERN Dispatcher (3) 100% $75,000.00
Lead CIS (3) 100% $75,000.00
CIS (5) 100% $70,000.00
Subtotal $ 360,000.00
Fringe (25%) $90,000.00
T otal Personnel $360,010.00
Operations
Office Rent $36,000.00
Supplies $6,000.00
Vehicles (3) $105,000.00
Fleet gas and maintenance $32,400.00
Insurance $10,000.00
Radios (6) $1,500.00
Cell Phones (10) $2,000.00
Cell Phone lines $12,000.00
Water & Snacks $3,000.00
Uniforms $1,000.00
Total Operations $208,900.00
Subtotal $568,910.00
In-Direct (10%) $56,891.00
TOTAL $625,801.00
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 46 APPENDIX C
Tiered Dispatch/
CERN Pilot Calls for
Service Summaries
46
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 47 Vehicle Double Parking, Blocking
Driveway or Sidewalk, Inoperable or
Abandoned
Calls for service (CFS) BPD receives related to
vehicles blocking driveways, sidewalks, being double
parked, inoperable or abandoned are call types that
lend themselves to having an alternate response. Of
the 3,690 CFS in the tier 1 subset of call types that
were for the previously mentioned, only 56 percent
were handled by BPD Parking Enforcement Division.
Any reason for parking enforcement not handling
closer to 100 percent of call types falls short because the aforementioned call types are non-criminal and
not likely to necessitate a sworn police response.
Examples of CFS related to vehicles blocking
driveways, sidewalks, being double parked, inoperable
or abandoned, include an array of narratives that
summarily and accurately capture the call type.
General Disturbance and Noise
Disturbance
CFS BPD receives related to general disturbances
or noise disturbances are also call types that may
be better served with an alternate response. CERN
community responders who are better equipped to
mediate conflicts or de-escalate situations through a
community centered approach may serve as a better
option than dispatching sworn officers. BPD would
not be precluded from responding to the call types,
but rather a second option if needed.
Disturbance and Noise Disturbance CFS are generally
non-violent and non-criminal in nature. In some
cases, an argument or heated debates are categorized
as disturbances and in other cases petty theft from
retail stores are categorized as disturbances. In other cases, by the time an officer arrives to the scene the
responsible parties are either unable to locate or
gone on arrival. In many of the Noise Disturbance call
types, officers were able to make contact with the
responsible parties and ask them to cease what they
were doing or move along. These types of calls are
prime examples of how an alternate response would
work in Berkeley.
Found and Lost Property
Found and lost property call types include calls where
an individual has either found or lost money, credit
cards, their wallets, and other personal property.
Non-Injury Accident
Calls for service (CFS) BPD receives related to certain non-injury collision may be better served with an
alternate response. Civilian personnel should be the
primary handlers of these types of CFS. Unless there
are barriers that legally preclude civilian personnel
from handling certain types of property, civilian
personnel or telephone reporting can serve to
address these call types.
Although there may be some cases where major
injury collisions occur, most collisions that occur in
Berkeley are relatively minor and can be handled by
civilian personnel within a traffic unit or the Berkeley Department of Transportation (BerkDOT) that is
being developed. In cases where there are no injuries
to be reported, civilian personnel or BerkDOT can
handle these calls to take reports. Individuals may
also call in to a telephone reporting unit to make a
report.
Suspicious Person, Vehicle,
Circumstances
Calls for service (CFS) BPD receives related to
suspicious person, vehicle, or circumstances may be
better served with an alternate response. Civilian
personnel should be the primary handlers of these
types of CFS. CERN allows for community responders
to request officer assistance if needed. In some
cases, an officer is needed, but in many other cases,
the suspicious person or vehicle is gone on arrival or
unable to be located. Suspicious circumstances call
types are usually a suspicious person or vehicle driving around or someone doing something seemingly out
of the ordinary leading someone to call 911. Most of
the time, the call types do not necessitate the need
for a sworn response, even for welfare checks.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 48 911 Call Narratives from Computer
Aided Dispatch (CAD) Data
Disturbance Call Narratives:
“2 MALES HEARD IN A 415, CLOSE TO THE
CLUBHOUSE, TOO DARK TO GET ANY FURTHER,
Dispatch received by unit 4A9, 1194 on 2, 4 people
admonished and moved along.” (Sworn Officer)
“Refusing to leave for 3 hours .. Smell of marijuana
.., nature of call: refuse to leave, rp is front office manager, guest, guest, resp / guest in room 3128;
wm mid 50’s 507 wild hair grey north face jacket
and blue jeans guest has two boxer dogs brown in
color aggressive with guest, dispatch received by
unit 5a16, dispatch received by unit 5a18, dispatch
received by unit 5a16, subject gone on arrival unable
to locate from room, no further service requested.”
(Sworn Officer)
Noise Disturbance Call Narratives:
“4 or 5 people on the sidewalk talking loudly, dispatch received by unit 6a7, quiet on arrival and departure
1008 no paper.” (Sworn Officer)
“Very loud music, walls are shaking, dispatch received
by unit 4a7, code 4, dispatch received by unit 4a7,
secured apt blding, u/r rp, unable to gain access to
complex, no answer on intercom, quite from street.”
(Sworn Officer)
“Nature of call: loud music, loud music coming from
van ifo rp wants quieted, dispatch received by unit
2a7, music was coming from an rv. The driver was a
dj and was practicing. Driver agreed to stop.” (Sworn
Officer)
Found and Lost Property Call Narratives:
“rp at 1630 berkeley way, found credit card, Dispatch
received by unit 7A4, The credit card was not active.
I destroyed the credit card.” (Sworn Officer)
“Found wallet, has dl, rp will leave the wallet on her
front steps if she leaves her house, found in front of
her garage, dispatch received by unit 1a16, dispatch
received by unit 1a16, dispatch received by unit
1a16.” (Sworn Officer)
Non-Injury Accident Report Call
Narratives:
“UCPD was flagged down, req bpd response, blk
toyota highlander vs silver buick sentry, dispatch
received by unit 3a6, silver buick, reg valid from:
05/02/14 to 05/02/15 yrmd:05 make:buick btm
:4d vin : 1040 jackson st apt 423 city:albany c.c.:01
zip#:94706, 11-82 only. Parties exchanged info.”
(Sworn Officer)
“Rp driving a “bauer’s” company bus, hit a parked a
vehicle on the street, victim vehicle is silver volvo rp req’ing pd due to it being a company vehicle - and
so the victim doesn’t think he is a victim of 20002,
dispatch received by unit 7a6, contacted the rp
pannell who advised that he hit a parked vehicle
causing minor damage. Pannell’s vehicle also had
minor damage. I stood by while pannell left a company
print out with the victim vehicle that contained the
insurance information and contact information. No
further service was requested.” (Sworn Officer)
Suspicious Circumstances Call
Narratives:
“On ca between delaware and francisco, 2 males
poss working on a car, rp thinks looks sus, 1 of the
males shined a green led light on the rp, veh is a red
sportscar, poss corvette, hood was up on car, occ:
5 min ago, rp is passerby, walking dog, rp unable
to give desc on subjects, dispatch received by unit
6a5, dispatch received by unit 7a2, reg valid from:
09/24/14 to 09/24/15 yrmd:76 make:chev btm:
9405 bass rd city:kelseyville c.c.:17 zip#:95451,
proves ok” (Sworn Officer)
“Someone left a bag outside rp’s house yesterday, rp
is concerned because it has a gang mark on it, bldg is
not secure, bag is outside apt #3, dispatch received
by unit 5a6, black faux purse with no id and a meth
pipe and two baggies of crystalized substance.”
(Sworn Officer)
“Ladder leaned up against the fence and a bag
of potato chips in the backyard, occ: 0830 - 1830
hours, nature of call: 1021, dispatch received by unit
7a12, i contacted rp via telephone. He advised that
he did not think that a crime occurred, but rather
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 49 someone may have used his backyard as an escape
route during a police pursuit. Ladder granted access
to the eastern neighbors yard. That neighbor advised
nothing was taken. I thanked him for the information
and advised that i would pass it on to my supervisors.
He did not have cameras in his backyard that would
assist pd tho. No further pd service requested. Nfi
msc only.” (Sworn Officer)
Suspicious Person Call Narratives:
“2 males out in the area on bikes with flashlights
10 prior both poss bma’s 20’s both tall-- 600 thin
build both in dark heavy coats or parkas unknown
description pants no bags seen, nature of call: poss
casing, nature of call: poss casing -10 prior, reg mens style bikes no further desc last wb stuart then nb
college, broadcast, rp at 2745 stuart st in #2 will be
leaving in 20 mins for work, dispatch received by
unit 5a8, dispatch received by unit 5a10, unable to
locate.” (Sworn Officer)
“On grant between parker st and blake, male living
in a camper, house is under construction, bma, 50-
60 5’8 med build with dark color sweat shirt, occ 2
mins prior tor, camper dark green is parked ifo the
vacant house , rp thinks subj is casing the house
under construction, dispatch received by unit 4a17,
dispatch received by unit 4a5, dispatch received by
unit 4a11, vehicle is gone on arrival c4 doing area
check, unable to locate, susper is gone on arrival,
attempted to contact rp with negative results” (Sworn
Officer)
“2 bm’s with ties and clip boards, unknown what
they wanted., ls eb on woolsey on ft, no further desc,
dispatch received by unit 7a6, dispatch received by
unit 6a7, 2nd caller from woolsey, 2 bm’s, 20’s.... #1
whi shirt, a tie and clipboard. #2 red and black jacket, no further desc., gone on arrival unable to locate.”
(Sworn Officer)
Suspicious Vehicle Call Narratives:
“White van light off running and creeping around
neighborhood for past 30 mins, 2 males in vehicle,
wm’s or hm’s, flat bcst, vehicle still in the area, now ifo 2808 garber, gmc van, plate, now headed towards
college, 2nd rp, dispatch received by unit 4a15,
dispatch received by unit s11, dispatch received by
unit 3a6, dispatch received by unit s11, gone on
arrival unable to locate.” (Sworn Officer)
“Ongoing issues with same vehicle driving around
the elmwood area at night, rp thinks vehicle is
casing, vehicle is now parked at elmwood laundry in
parking lot, white gmc, washington plate, unknown if
occupied, usually occupied by 2 hm’s aprox late 20’s
- 30’s, dispatch received by unit 2a7, unoccupied.”
(Sworn Officer)
“Blk chrysler with red rims, 4 yr old child in the car all by herself, rp is a witness just driving by, unknown
plate on the chrysler, dispatch received by unit 2a3,
rp now says there is an adult asleep in the car
still thinks
we should check it out, nature of call: 1042,
dispatch received by unit 2a5, proves ok mother and
daughter waiting for their father, who is a mechanic
across the street, to get off work.” (Sworn Officer)
Vehicle Double Parking Call Narratives:
“Vehicle blocking roadway, construction vehicle, near
Malcolm x school, double parked, large white work
truck. Vehicle moved.” (Parking Enforcement)
“Vehicle double parked / blocking reporting parties
vehicle from getting out, blk Audi sedan, hazards
are on, reporting party in beige Nissan alt, gone on
arrival.” (Parking Enforcement)
Vehicle Blocking Sidewalk Call
Narratives:
“Blk Honda accord 8jdt371, no record, neighbor is in
wheelchair has not been able to pass by, waiting for
lock smith.” (Sworn Officer)
Vehicle Blocking Driveway Call
Narratives:
Vehicle: white Honda, information given to parking,
vehicle is a Honda clarity, the vehicle is in compliance and is not blocking the driveway homeowner can get
into and out of the driveway, i will call and advise the reporting party of this.” (Parking Enforcement)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 50 Abandoned Vehicle Call Narratives:
“Car has been at location for 2 1/2 weeks, vehicle:
blk Dodge min van, nothing suspicious about vehicle
per reporting party.” (Sworn Officer)
“Nature of call: 1 week, parked on sidewalk, windows
down, back full of garbage, white ford pickup (late
80s) Husteads Towing en route.” (Sworn Officer)
Inoperable Vehicle Call Narratives:
“Across from, need flat bed, silver ford titanium sedan (TN), whole front end is smashed, tire is pushed in
backwards with rim down to the ground, SVR Notes:
BERRY BROS TOW, SILV FORD TITANIUM DWIGHT
WY, #821, 19-1967, berry bros tow advised eta 20-
30 min.” (Sworn Officer)
“Gold Toyota camry no rear lic plate, nb adeline from
stanford seen just prior, rear tire look as if it’s about to fly off, rear right, unable to locate, gone on arrival.” (Sworn Officer)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 51 APPENDIX D
FIP and Related Course
Training History
51
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 52 Professional Standards Division Personnel and Training Bureau Fair and Impartial Policing:
Description: The science of human bias indicates that even the best officers might manifest bias and therefore even the best agencies must be proactive to achieve Fair and Impartial Policing. This training presents what is known about human biases and provides guidance to promoting Fair and Impartial Policing in the areas of policy, training, supervision/accountability, leadership, recruitment/hiring, institutional practices/priorities, outreach and measurement.
Keynote Speaker is Dr. Lori Fridell, former Director of PERF and a nationally recognized expert on Racially Biased Policing. BPD Instructors certified by Dr. Fridell.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
8/17/10 Dr. Lori Fridell 12 8 and Community Members
11/5/12 Dr. Lori Fridell 12 10
11/16/13 Dr. Lori Fridell 12 4***Train-the Trainer Course*** 4/22/14 to 10/31/14 BPD 8 267
11/18/14 Dr. Lori Fridell 12 11 and Community Members
4/9/16 Dr. Lori Fridell 12 17 and Community Members
Fair and Impartial Policing Policy Training:
Description: The Berkeley Police Department will hold trainings on General Order B-4, Fair and Impartial Policing. The training will cover the purpose, definition, and policy related to Fair and Impartial Policing as well as the responsibility to report misconduct. Statistical dispositions and common questions related to this new policy will also be addressed. Presented by BPD Instructors certified by Dr. Fridell.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
11/23/14 to 11/25/14 BPD 1 167
Biased Based Policing:
Description: California State Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training has developed a DVD course, “Bias Based Policing: Remaining Fair and Impartial” (formerly known as racial profiling) to satisfy the Continuing Professional Training requirement. This course is mandated by POST. This course was administered by supervisors and requires group discussion on topic.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
11/1/14 to 2/27/15 BPD 2 177
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 53 Principled Policing:
Description: This course provides a “how to” on teaching policy approaches that emphasize respect, listening, neutrality, and trust, while also addressing the common implicit biases that can be barriers to these approaches (implicit bias). Instructors were certified and trained by the California Department of Justice.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
9/21/16 DOJ 16 3***Train-the-Trainer Course***
5/15/17 CA POST 16 3***Train-the-Trainer Course***
12/28/17 to 1/25/18 BPD 8 64
12/17/20 & 1/14/21 BPD 4 88
Crisis Intervention Training:
36 to 40-hour Crisis Intervention Course:
Description: Law enforcement personnel will receive information about mental illnesses, crisis and suicide intervention techniques, common psychiatric medications, crisis intervention training for adolescents, cultural competency in the community, post-traumatic stress disorder and officer resiliency, assessing the risk for violence in a mentally ill individual, Welfare & Institution Code 5150 “(mental health hold) procedures, Mobile Crisis information and community resource contacts. CIT trained officers develop an increased understanding of mental illness which enables them to effectively coordinate appropriate interventions for individuals with mental illness.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
7/28/11 to 10/26/18 Various 36-40 75 and counting
8-hour Crisis Intervention Course:
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
1/31/13 to 5/13/13 BPD 8 106
2-hour Crisis Intervention Update:
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
12/28/15 to 4/21/16 BPD 2 181
12/27/18 Berkeley Mental
Health
2 17
Crisis Intervention for Dispatchers:
Description: This course is designed to provide Public Safety Dispatchers with an overview of mental illness, tools to assess suicidal callers, and crisis intervention techniques. Mental health issues unique to the youth, veterans, and senior citizens are discussed. Excited delirium and agitated chaotic events are explained.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 54 DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
5/21/14 to 8/30/17 Alameda County
Behavioral Health
16 17
Crisis Negotiations for Dispatchers:
Description: This course will provide the student with an understanding of hostage negotiations principles, knowledge of the various roles, responsibilities and challenges a Dispatcher may face in such a situation.
Students will also learn techniques used by negotiators; field unit response to negotiations incidents; and techniques for dealing with the aftermath and stress management. It will also provide the student with the necessary information to practically apply these principles during critical incidents such as: Hostage situations Barricaded subjects Suicidal subjects when the student may be the call taker. This course also addresses “Swatting”.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
11/30/16 and 9/21/17 IXII Group 8 2
Communication- Keeping Your Edge:
Description: California State Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training has developed a web based course, “Communications-Keeping Your Edge” to satisfy the Perishable Skills Continuing Professional Training requirement. This course is available to POST regulated employees at the POST Learning Portal online and its completion is mandated every two years.
The training will include verbal and non-verbal communication techniques, including responding to rude and abusive individuals, active listening, deflection, re-direction, and other communication techniques.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
Ongoing POST 2 All Sworn
Tactical De-escalation:
Description: ***First POST approved Tactical De-escalation training*** The student will receive instruction designed to educate law enforcement officers in the theory, methodology, and application of tactical de-escalation skills. Course instruction is intended to provide the student with an in-depth understanding of tactics used to handle unarmed non- compliant subjects, subjects armed with weapons other than firearms, and subjects who may attempt suicide by cop. The course consists of lecture, video review and hands-on/practical tactical de-escalation training for in-service officers.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
6/14/16 to 10/27/16 BPD 8 135
8/13/18 to 3/12/20 BPD/Various 8 76
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 55 Harassment Prevention Training:
Description: Gov. Code 12950.1 (Amended by SB 1343) and the City of Berkeley prohibit harassment on the basis of sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, and any other classifications protected by state or federal law.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
Ongoing COB/BPD 1 to 2 depending
on rank.
All Personnel
LGBT Awareness for Law Enforcement:
Description: This interactive course includes five modules that are designed to address the following learning outcomes:
1. The
student will explain the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity and how these two aspects of identity relate to each other and to race, culture and religion.
2. The studen
t will define terminology used to describe sexual orientation and gender identity.
3. The studen
t will identify ways to create an inclusive workplace and to support LGBTQ+ co-workers.
4. The studen
t will identify key moments in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.
5. The studen
t will understand how hate crimes and domestic violence impact LGBTQ+ people.
DATE PROVIDER HOURS PERSONNEL TRAINED
June – July 2021 Out to Protect 4 All Personnel
Upcoming Trainings:
Personnel and Training are currently in the process of scheduling additional 8 hour Implicit Bias training for the Fall 2021
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 56 APPENDIX E
FY 2020 Year End
Workforce Report
56
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 57 ATTACHMENT 16: POLICE DEPARTMENT WORKFORCE
BY OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES, RACE & GENDER
POLICE
DEPARTMENT TOTAL M F
WHITE
BLACK OR
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
HISPANIC OR
LATINO ASIAN
NATIVE HAWAIIAN
AND OTHER
PACIFIC ISLANDER
AMERICAN
INDIAN AND
ALASKA NATIVE
TWO OR
MORE
RACES MINORITIES
M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
DEPARTMENT *
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
160 134
83.8%
85.7%
26 16.3%
14.3%
76 47.5%
47.7%
15 9.4%
7.4%
19 11.9%
11.7%
4 2.5%
3.8%
20 12.5%
9.6%
3 1.9%
0.4%
16 10.0%
11.8%
2 1.3%
2.5%
0 0.0%
2.9%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.3%
0 0.0%
0.0%
3 1.9%
1.8%
2 1.3%
0.3%
69 43.1%
45.0%
POLICE CHIEF
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
1 1
100.0%
80.2%
0 0.0%
18.7%
1 100.0%
49.5%
0 0.0%
13.2%
0 0.0%
20.9%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
8.7%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
6.6%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
2.2%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
38.4%
CAPTAINS
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
3 2
66.7%
80.2%
1 33.3%
18.7%
1 33.3%
49.5%
1 33.3%
13.2%
0 0.0%
20.9%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
8.7%
0 0.0%
0.0%
1 33.3%
0.0%
0 0.0%
6.6%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
2.2%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
1 33.3%
38.4%
LIEUTENANTS
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
9 8
88.9%
80.2%
1 11.1%
18.7%
5 55.6%
49.5%
1 11.1%
13.2%
1 11.1%
20.9%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
8.7%
0 0.0%
0.0%
2 22.2%
0.0%
0 0.0%
6.6%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
2.2%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
3 33.3%
38.4%
SERGEANTS
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
31 23
74.2%
80.2%
8 25.8%
18.7%
16 51.6%
49.5%
5 16.1%
13.2%
3 9.7%
20.9%
0 0.0%
0.0%
2 6.5%
8.7%
1 3.2%
0.0%
2 6.5%
0.0%
1 3.2%
6.6%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
2.2%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
1 3.2%
0.0%
10 32.3%
38.4%
POLICE OFFICERS
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
117 101
86.3%
86.4%
16 13.7%
13.6%
54 46.2%
47.3%
8 6.8%
6.6%
15 12.8%
10.4%
4 3.4%
4.3%
18 15.4%
9.8%
2 1.7%
0.4%
11 9.4%
13.3%
1 0.9%
2.0%
0 0.0%
3.3%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
3 2.6%
2.0%
1 0.9%
0.3%
55 47.0%
45.8%
NON - SWORN
REPRESENTATION
ALAMEDA ACS
91 30
33.0%
57.9%
61 67.0%
42.1%
10 11.0%
19.7%
13 14.3%
19.7%
12 13.2%
2.0%
27 29.7%
10.2%
3 3.3%
11.4%
10 11.0%
11.0%
5 5.5%
19.7%
6 6.6%
0.8%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
0.8%
0 0.0%
0.0%
0 0.0%
2.4%
5 5.5%
0.8%
68 75%
59.1%
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 58 APPENDIX F
Community Based
Organizations and
Nonprofits Providing
Services in Berkeley
58
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 59 Youth after-school and recreational
programs
Youth Spirit Artworks
Youth Spirit Artworks works to empower homeless
and low-income young people in Berkeley by
teaching youth-specific vocational skills related to
commercial arts and entrepreneurship, providing
youth with an income from jobs training and sales of
art and teaching budgeting and money management
skills, helping youth modeling experiences of healthy
family and community relationships, and promoting
youth commitment to personal health and wholeness,
including a commitment to nonviolence.
1 Currently the City of Berkeley only funds the Youth
Spirit Artworks’ (YSA) Youths TAY Tiny Homes
Management program, which is discussed below, but
funding could be expanded to their Fine Arts program
that uses art jobs and jobs training to empower and
transform the lives of youth, giving young people
the skills, experience, and self- confidence needed
to meet their full potential, and the Community Arts
programs, that centers around public artmaking for
community revitalization.
2 Berkeley Youth Alternatives
Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA) uses a strength-
based, holistic, continuum of care approach that
emphasizes education, health and well-being, and
economic self- sufficiency in order to help children,
youth, and their families build capacity to reach their innate potential. BYA uses preventative measures by
reaching youth before their problems become crises
and uses intervention measures by providing support
services to youth engaged in the youth justice system.
The City of Berkeley’s fiscal year 2022 budget reflects an allocation of $30,000 to the BYA After School
Program
3 and $30,000 to BYA’s Counseling program
for children.4
1 https:/ /youthspiritartworks.org/
2 https:/ /youthspiritartworks.org/programs/community-art- program/
3 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
4 https:/ /www.byaonline.org/programs/afterschool-center Other programs at the BYA that would benefit from
City funding are the Environmental Training Center, a
youth internship program for youth ages 16-24 that
teaches basic work ethic, professionalism and skills
necessary for future employment,
5 the youth and
Family Opportunity Hub that focuses on increasing
access to health and wellness services for low-
income and uninsured children and their families
6,
Career Development Center which administers
multiple employment readiness strategies for youth
and young adults ages 16-24
7, and lastly; Sports and
Fitness which provides a structured and disciplined
environment for participants to learn quality values
such as teamwork, confidence building and self-
discipline.
8 Violence Prevention and Restorative
Justice Programs
SEEDS Community Resolution Center will expect to
see a $22,553 allocation of City funding to provide
facilitation, training, and coaching in restorative
justice, community building, conflict resolution,
restorative inquiry, verbal de-escalation, harm repair, and positive school culture and climate development.
SEEDS School Services help to foster positive
relationships among and between educators and
students, thereby increasing students’ engagement in
school, and maximizing the effectiveness of the adults
who serve them. SEEDS School Services can serve
to strengthen the essential links between students,
their peers, their families, and their educators.
9 SEEDS also offers community mediation services
that offer a supportive place where people can talk
through their conflict in a productive manner,
10 and
conflict coaching to help people process and problem
solve specific issues.
11 5 https:/ /www.byaonline.org/programs/health-and-
environment/environmental-training-center
6 https:/ /www.byaonline.org/programs/teen-center/youth- and-family-opportunity-hub
7 https:/ /www.byaonline.org/programs/career-development- and-prevent-center
8 https:/ /www.byaonline.org/programs/sports-and-fitness/ sports-and-fitness
9 https:/ /www.seedscrc.org/school-services
10 https:/ /www.seedscrc.org/community-mediation
11 https:/ /www.seedscrc.org/community-conflict-coaching
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 60 Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual
Violence and Sexual Exploitation
Prevention and Intervention
The City of Berkeley does not currently fund any CBOs
that work explicitly with survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or sexual exploitation;
however, the City does fund two women’s specific
shelters. The Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center’s
12 Bridget Transitional House Case Management
component will receive $118,728, the Daytime Drop-
In Services will receive $48,153, and the Homeless
Case Management – Housing Retention will receive
$100,190.
13 Berkeley Food & Housing Project’s
Women’s Shelter receives $230,644 in City funding.
Organizations identified by members of the Task
Force that support these population specifically, but
who do not receive City funding include Motivating,
Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited
Youth (MISSSEY)
14, Bay Area Women Against Rape
(BAWAR)15, and the Family Violence Law Center 16.
The City could also be innovative and develop
RFPs for CBOs that work directly to support these
populations of people. It should be noted that, while a large proportion of women experience these types of
issues, men and LGBTQ populations experience them
as well, which should be taken into consideration in
the creation of RFPs.
Housing and Homeless Services
Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS)
BOSS, which was summarized previously, currently
receives $932,975 which is the most funding of all
the CBOs contracted in the City and centered on
homelessness. BOSS current receives funding for their
BOSS House Navigation Team that provides needs
assessments, housing education, access to listings,
advocacy with landlords, help filling out housing
applications, connection to subsidies as available, and case management to facilitate a successful transition
to housing along with critical time intervention to
12 https:/ /www.womensdropin.org/
13 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
14 https:/ /misssey.org/
15 https:/ /bawar.org/
16 http:/ /fvlc.org/get-help/resources/
ensure stabilization, Representative Payee Services
to individuals who have been designated by Social
Security as needing a payee to manage their income,
or who have been referred for this assistance, Ursula
Sherman Village Families Program and Village Singles
Shelter a shelter for homeless disabled adults.
Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA); Tiny House Village
Youth Spirit Artworks’ Tiny House Village17 was built
in early 2021 for homeless Transitional Age Youth;
age 18-23 in crisis. YSA partnered with a non-profit
developer to create a multi-faceted, community-led
Village with 26 tiny homes that was designed by the
young people it will benefit. The completed Village
features on-site communal bathrooms and showers,
a kitchen yurt for residents to cook weekly communal
meals and securely store their own food, community
gathering space for meetings, and on-site Resident
Assistants who live in the community. Residents
in the Village, are engaged in building a strong and
connected community, have opportunities for
personal and professional growth, including access
to training and mentorship in the following areas:
artmaking, art entrepreneurship and sales, nonprofit
management, gardening, sewing, medicine, music,
biking and exercise, cooking, construction, and
more. Residents are supported in developing a
responsibility to the community at large, achieved
through connections to local faith organizations and
active involvement with local social justice projects.
Additionally, all residents at the Village take part in YSA’s core jobs training program, where they will
receive wrap-around case management services
and engage in youth-led workshops around healthy
interpersonal relationships, restorative practices, and more.
18 YSA is expected to receive an $117,000 allocation
from the City for the case management component
19 of the initiative, however expanding funding to build up the community would be incredibly impactful.
Rebuilding T ogether
Rebuilding Together works to bring warmth,
safety, and independence to Berkeley residents by
17 https:/ /youthspiritartworks.org/programs/tiny-house-village/ 18 https:/ /youthspiritartworks.org/programs/tiny-house-village 19 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 61 revitalizing homes and neighborhood facilities.20 The City is expected to allocate $98,275, to the Our Safe
at Home program, which provides safety assessments
and hazard elimination for qualified applicants. By
implementing safety modifications such as grab bars
in the bathroom, handheld shower heads, elevated
toilet seats, exterior handrails, or wheelchair ramps,
the Safe at Home program helps prevent accidents or
exposure that can cause injury, illness, or even death.
The Safe at Home program improves quality of life for
its clients by performing upgrades including painting,
lead abatement, repairing/installing heating systems,
replacing electrical panels, smoke alarm installation,
fire extinguishers, and carbon monoxide detectors to
address environmental hazards in the home.
21 City funding could be expanded to the Community
Facility Improvement program which provides local
nonprofits and community centers with much-
needed repairs and upgrades, which will contribute
to an organizations’ ability to effectively serve the
Berkeley community. Rebuilding Together also
provides emergency repairs services and energy and
efficiency upgrades, reducing the number of residents
living in uninhabitable conditions.
22 Food security, increased
access to nutritious food
Healthy Black Families Inc.
Healthy Black Families Inc, educates, engages, and
advocates for the holistic growth and development
of diverse Black individuals and families. They will
receive funding for their Sisters Together Empowering
Peers (STEP) program; a peer-led support and
empowerment group that addresses health and social
inequities for African American parenting women in
our community, but funding could be expanded to
their program; Thirsty for Change (T4C), a healthy
eating and nutrition education and advocacy
program that engages Black families in South and
West Berkeley through a wide array of activities to
improve the health of the community.
23 20 https:/ /rtebn.org/
21 https:/ /rtebn.org/our-work/#our-programs
22 https:/ /rtebn.org/our-work/#our-programs
23 https:/ /www.healthyblackfamiliesinc.org/t4c
Mental Health and Co-Occurring
Conditions
Bonita House
As previously explained, Bonita House provides
mental health and addiction treatment, intensive
residential treatment, independent living programs,
housing and employment assistance, and outpatient
case management. The City currently allocated
$24,480 to its case management services, which
could be increased substantially to build capacity and
efficacy of its services.
Bay Area Community Resources; School Based
Behavioral Health Services (BACR)
BARC provides school-linked mental health and
prevention services for middle and high school
children and their families, in high-need. BACRs
prevention and early intervention approach
draws from evidence-based practices and proven
resiliency models utilizing experienced licensed and
pre-licensed clinicians.
24 BACR offers restorative,
culturally humble, and trauma-informed mental
health services to help youth cope with challenging
life circumstances and develop positive strategies to
be successful and healthy in and out of school.
Substance Use and Addiction
New Bridge Foundation
The New Bridge Foundation (NBF) is a residential and
outpatient addiction treatment center that provides
comprehensive services and has a community
outreach component to their program. It does not
currently receive City funding but is a well- known
and respected CBO in the community, and could
benefit from expanded funding.
Healthcare Management
Lifelong Medical Care (LMC)
The City will allocate a total of $304,398 for some
treatment services such as geriatric and hypertension
care, however LMC also has initiatives such East
Bay Community Recovery Project, which supports
the self-sufficiency and wellness of individuals and
24 https:/ /www.bacr.org/behavioral-and-mental-health
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 62 families by providing comprehensive and integrated
services for mental health, substance use and related
health conditions while addressing housing and
employment.
25 They also have a program called Heart
to Heart which fosters the idea that community
connectedness and cohesion through community
engagement, building relationships, and trust are
critical for improving community health.
Heart 2 Heart works to prevent high blood pressure
and heart disease while connecting community
members to resources and services they need. The
Heart 2 Heart program serves as a bridge between
community members and health centers throughout
the Heart 2 Heart community.
26 Funding can also
be increased for their Case Management Tied to
Permanent Housing program ($163,644), Supporting
Housing Program ($55,164), and Street Medicine/
Trust Clinic ($50,000).
27 Berkeley Free Clinic
The Berkeley Free Clinic is a health collective that
provides free medication, supplies, dental and medical
care, peer counseling, and community referrals. The
Clinic relies solely on individual or organizational
donations and government support and is one of the
only clinics in California offering primary health care free of charge. The clinic maintains that health care
should be available at a level and quality sufficient to meet the basic needs of everyone regardless of race,
gender, age, immigration status, income level, or any
other characteristic, and believes health care is a
right, not a privilege. The clinic is expected to receive only $15,858 for the Free Women and Transgender
Health Care Service. Funding for this program could
be significantly increased. Funding could additionally
be expanded to services such as the Outreach Team
which uses volunteers to hand out hot meals, hygiene
supplies, and more to people in need, TB Tests, Local,
Resource Navigation & Referrals, Health Insurance
& Food Benefits, Peer Counseling, STI, Screenings
& Treatment, UTI Testing & Treatment, Hepatitis,
HIV, and TB Counseling +, Screenings, and Dental
Services.
28 25 https:/ /lifelongmedical.org/ebcrp/
26 https:/ /lifelongmedical.org/heart-2-heart/
27 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
28 https:/ /www.berkeleyfreeclinic.org/servicesupdate
Economic development and
new city jobs
Inner-City Services (ICS)
ICS will receive just $101,351 of City funding to
provide comprehensive employment training and
job placement services to thousands of Bay Area
residents. ICS combines traditional content-based
education with hands-on classroom training and
cutting-edge computer technology. ICS’s main
objective is to instill workplace character values: a
sense of pride and professionalism, dignity, respect,
integrity, and excellence throughout our diverse
student body, in order to help people thrive in society and the business world.
29 Multicultural Institute
Multicultural Institute (MI) helps increase access
to opportunities for immigrant families to reach
economic stability, and their programming uses
strategies to enhance economic, educational,
and skill opportunities, cultivate leadership
development, provide direct services, and stimulate
positive transformation of individuals, families, and
communities. These programs ultimately, assist
individuals in contributing and participating in the
civic life and well-being of their community. MI
will receive $68,136 for their Lifeskills Program
30 that provides economic development, vocational
skill development, learning opportunities, and
immigration and health services to people living in
Berkeley.
31 In addition to their Lifeskills program MI
will receive $33,603 in City funding for their Youth
Mentoring program.
32 29 https:/ /www.icsworks.com/about.php
30 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
31 https:/ /mionline.org/what-we-do/
32 https:/ /www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/ Budget/cob-proposed-budget-fy2022.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 63 Parks and open spaces including
activities for young people and families
Berkeley Community Gardening
Collaborative (BCGC)
Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative is a
diverse group of community garden members who
share a commitment to organic, urban agriculture and
access to healthy food for all residents of Berkeley.
They protect existing gardens, facilitate the formation of new gardens, and advocate for food security
initiatives in local schools and within the city. BCGC
actively seeks to create a more sustainable society
by engaging in urban agriculture, the preservation
of open space, habitat restoration, and cultivating
community. To broaden its impact and build alliances,
BCGC partners with other organizations that share
its goals. BCGC will receive $11,895 in City funding,
which could be expanded to strengthen their impact
on communities in Berkeley.
33 Moving South Berkeley Forward (MSBF)
Moving South Berkeley Forward is a youth-driven
environmental, social justice project focused on
community health and educational equity in South
Berkeley and is spearheaded by youth of color and
the South Berkeley community. This project is a joint
effort between the Berkeley Community Gardening
Collaborative, UC Berkeley’s Environmental Science,
Policy & Management Department, Berkeley High
School, and the community of South Berkeley. MSBF
wants the community to have accessible health
resources and a better future.
34 MSBF does not
currently receive any City funding.
Childcare
BANANA
BANANAS works in partnership with early education
providers in order to provide support for families in
their parenting journey. BANANAs programs and
services include assisting families find and pay for
quality childcare, parenting workshops, playgroups,
and professional development for all types of early
care and education providers. Their services and
33 https:/ /ecologycenter.org/bcgc/
34 https:/ /movingsouthberkeleyforward.weebly.com/
support allow working families to thrive and be
confident their children are in quality and nurturing
learning environments.35 BANANA Currently receives
funding for childcare subsidies ($283,110), playgroups
($10,527), and Quality Rating and
Improvement
System services ($95,000).
The City could additionally, expand funding subsidies
to early childcare providers such as Nia House
Learning Center in West Berkeley, and Bay Area
Hispano Institute for Advancement, Inc. (BAHIA
Inc.). Nia House Learning Center’s mission is to bring
together children from different socio-economic
backgrounds to grow and work in harmony and
cooperation, and to actively work toward all of Dr.
Maria Montessori’s concepts, especially that of
peace through education.
36 BAHIA Inc. is a nonprofit
organization that provides high quality, bilingual
learning environments where children grow to
become successful lifelong bilingual learners. BAHIA
is the only full-time; Latino nonprofit in Berkeley
providing bilingual (Spanish-English) childcare and
education to children ages 2-10 years of age. BAHIA
is a respected leader in the community that strives
to improve the quality of life of children and their
families in the community.
37 Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement
Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement, Inc.
(BAHIA Inc.) is a nonprofit organization that provides
high quality, bilingual learning environments where
children grow to become successful lifelong bilingual
learners. BAHIA is the only full-time; Latino nonprofit in Berkeley providing bilingual (Spanish-English)
childcare and education to children ages 2-10 years
of age. BAHIA is a respected leader in the community
that strives to improve the quality of life of children and their families in the community.
38 LGBTQ Services and Support
Pacific Center for Human Growth (PCHG)
Pacific Center for Human Growth is the oldest
LGBTQIA+ center in the Bay Area, the third oldest
35 https:/ /bananasbunch.org/about/
36 http:/ /www.niahouse.org/
37 https:/ /www.bahiainc.com/about-us
38 https:/ /www.bahiainc.com/about-us
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 64 in the nation, and operates the only sliding scale
mental health clinic for LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC
people and their families in Berkeley.
39 PCGH helps
enhance the mental health and overall well-being of
LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC communities by providing
culturally responsive therapy, peer to peer support
groups, community outreach services, and facilitated
workshops. The City will allocate $23,245 to their
Safer Schools Project, but funding could be expanded
to their Youth Program that supports young people in
feeling connected, supported, and uplifted.
40 Community Alternative
Placement Hub (CAPH)
In order to complement the CERN as it relates to a
response to a CFS, certain CBOs should be designated
as “community alternative placement hubs” (CAPH)
which can serve as an alternative to jail or mental
institutions for people in need or immediate shelter
or services who have not committed any crime.
BOSS, Bonita House New Bridge Foundation and
Bay Area Community Services (BACS) have already
been identified above in and previous section and
could additionally be well positioned CBOS to build
out the CERN and serve as CAPHs. BOSS, which was
summarized in an above section, currently receives
the most funding of all the homeless CBOs contracted
in the City could be best positioned to serve as a
general CAPH for people in crisis or experiencing
a high need of services or intervention. Bonita
House could serve as a hub that specifically handles
people with mental health crises and co-occurring
conditions cases, and the Newbridge Foundation
could be utilized specifically for people experiencing
substance abuse crises. BACS can also serve as a
candidate for a CAPH for people experiencing crises
related to homelessness and behavioral health needs.
Additionally, and specific for youth in need of
immediate shelter and services, the Youth Spirit
Artworks; TAY Tiny Homes could also be utilized.
Lastly, the New Bridge Foundation, which does not
currently receive City funding could also be utilized
as a CAPH, for people with mental health challenges.
39 https:/ /www.pacificcenter.org/about-us
40 https:/ /www.pacificcenter.org/youth-programs
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 65 Berkeley Calls for
Service Analysis
APPENDIX G
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 66 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Berkeley City Auditor conducted an extensive report on Berkeley Police Department (BPD) calls for service (CFS or events) which was published in July of 2021. This report has been prepared to illustrate the application of NICJR’s CFS classification methodology to BPD CFS data. To the extent possible, the City Auditor’s analyses have not been replicated.
Specific Analysis Objectives
1. Provide an analysis of BPD calls for service according to NICJR’s Crime Categories
2. Map NICJR’
s Crime Categories to NICJR’s proposed Community Emergency Response Network (CERN)
3. Iden
tify which calls for service should be responded to by a non-BPD alternative Findings
A review of over 358,000 calls for service covering the period 2015-2019 found that over 81 percent of BPD calls were for Non-Criminal events. Only 7.4 percent of calls were associated with felonies of any kind.
Figure 1. Calls for Service by Crime Category
Although the BPD utilized nearly 200 call types during the study period, just ten comprised over half of all events.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 67 Table 1. T op 10 Call Types, Auditor Report
Call Types T otal Events
Traffic Stop 44,795
Disturbance 35,696
Audible Alarm 19,920
Noise Disturbance 15,773
Security Check 15,262
Welfare Check 15,030
Suspicious Circumstance 11,547
Trespassing 11,058
Theft 10,556
Wireless 911 9,899
NICJR has developed a tiered dispatch model for CFS, one that includes a robust, structured, and well- trained team of community responders – a Community Emergency Response Network. Pursuant to the NICJR methodology, CFS are initially allocated to CERN Tiers based on a standardized approach outlined below:
Tier 1: CERN dispatched only
•
Ev
ent type: Non-Criminal
Tier 2: CERN lead, with officers present
• Ev
ent type: Misdemeanor with low potential of violence
• If
CERN arrives on scene and determines there is low potential for violence and an arrest is unnecessary or unlikely, officers leave.
Tier 3: Officers lead, with CERN present
• Ev
ent type: Non-Violent Felony or an arrest is likely
• If
officers arrive on scene and determine there is no need for an arrest or an arrest is unlikely and violence is unlikely, officers step back and CERN takes the lead.
Type 4: Officers only
• Ev
ent type: Serious Violent Felony or high likelihood of arrest Default Tier assignments are adjusted based on factors including call type arrest rates and a qualitative assessment of whether specific call types would benefit from an alternate response; the arrest analysis typically results in CFS “moving up” a Tier, whereas the alternate response benefit analysis generally results in CFS moving down a level. In Berkeley, application of the default Tier assignment, adjusted to take into account arrest rates and alternate response benefit, results in 50 percent of BPD events being categorized as Tier 1; CERN would play a lead role in responding to over 64 percent of all CFS.
The top 10
call types
account for
54% of all
events.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 68 Table 2. Recommended Tiered Dispatch Model
Crime
Category CERN BPD % of Call
Types
# of Call Types
in Each Tier
Tier 1 Only 50% 92
Tier 2 Lead Present 10% 19
Tier 3 Present Lead 18% 33
Tier 4 Only 21% 39
Of the top ten call types by call initiation source, 100 percent of On-View, and 80 percent of 911 and Non- Emergency event types are assigned to CERN Tier 1.
Table 3. T op T en Call Types by Initiation Source and Tier Officer Initiated CERN
Tier 911 Emergency CERN
Tier Non-Emergency Line CERN
Tier
Traffic 1 Disturbance 1 Disturbance 1
Security Check 1 Wireless 911 1 Audible Alarm 1
Pedestrian Stop 1 Ascertain 911 1 Noise Disturbance 1
Officer Flagged Down 1 Welfare Check 1 Welfare Check 1
Suspicious Vehicle 1 Suspicious Circumstances 1 Trespassing 1 Parking Violation 1 Battery 3 Petty Theft 2
Bike Stop 1 Suspicious Person 1 Advice 1
Abandoned Vehicle 1 Family Disturbance 1 Suspicious Circumstances 1 Found Property 1 Petty Theft 2 Parking Violation 1
Disturbance 1 Mental Illness 1 Suspicious Person 1
An average of slightly more than 2 officers responds to each CFS, spending an average of .61 hours event, as measured by arrival on-scene to call clearance.
Table 4. Time Spent Responding to Events
Crime Category T otal Hours
Arrival to Close
Average Hours
Per Event
Proportion of
T otal Officer Time
Non-Criminal 98,119 .38 52.3%
Misdemeanor 20,414 .53 10.9%
Non-Violent Felony 33,836 .79 18.0%
Serious Violent Felony 35,275 .74 6.9%
Total 187,644 .61 18.8%
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 69 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
Analysis of BPD CFS data for the period 2015-2019 indicates that over 81 percent of CFS were for Non- Criminal events, and that the non-emergency line was the single largest event generating source. Although the vast majority of CFS during the analysis period were Non-Criminal, an average of 2.4 officers was dispatched per event response. NICJR’s assessment of viable alternate responses indicates that 50 percent of CFS can be responded to with no BPD involvement, with another 18 percent requiring BPD to be present, but to serve in a support, rather than a lead, role.
With these results in mind, NICJR recommends that alternative response options be developed for the 50 percent of CFS that do not require a law enforcement response. This process should involve an assessment of both relevant municipal and community-based resources that can serve as the basis for the Berkeley CERN.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 70 OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND
METHODOLOGY
This report is designed to:
1. Pr
ovide an analysis of BPD CFS according to NICJR’s Crime Categories
2. Map NICJR’
s Crime Categories to NICJR’s proposed Community Emergency Response Network (CERN)
3. Iden
tify which calls for service should be responded to by a non-BPD alternative NICJR has developed a tailored approach to the analysis of CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) calls for service data based on hands-on experience in multiple cities nationwide. NICJR CFS analyses use the following categorization of final disposition CAD events: Non-Criminal (NC), Misdemeanor (MISD), Non-Violent Felony (NV FEL), and Serious Violent Felony (SV FEL). NICJR categories are aligned with state specific penal codes and their associated penalties. If a call type is not found in the penal code, it is placed into the Non-Criminal Category.
NICJR uses this method of categorizing events because it affords the most linear correlation between the event and its associated criminal penalty. By categorizing events in this manner, NICJR can clearly identify the portion of CFS that are either non-criminal or are for low-level and non-violent offenses. Categorizing call data into a simple criminal vs. non-criminal, violent, vs. non-violent, structure also supports conversations with the community about alternatives to policing for specific call types grounded in easily understandable data.
NICJR’s methodology was informed by an assessment of the limitations of other approaches to categorizing CAD data. Alternative approaches include matching CFS to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Report (UCR) categories or to the newer National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) categories.
Both options have serious limitations. The UCR data set only includes violent and property crimes, while the more expansive NIBRS platform has not been widely adopted by policing agencies. In 2018, for example, UCR data was submitted for 16,659 (out of 18,000) law enforcement agencies across the country, while only 7,283 reported crime data via NIBRS.
1 With respect to the present analysis, the BPD provided NICJR with a comprehensive CFS data set for calendar years 2015-2019, representing 358,269 unique calls for service.
Each year’s worth of data included the call type descriptions for the respective reporting period. There were 183 available call type descriptions for each year. The data set included 18 non-traffic related disposition codes by which calls were cleared or disposed. There were also numerous Racial Identity and Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board disposition codes as required by Assembly Bill 953, which requires law enforcement agencies to collect “perceived demographic and other detailed data regarding pedestrian and traffic stops.” NICJR consolidated these call types into four descriptive Crime Categories for reporting purposes: Non- Criminal, Misdemeanor, Non-Violent Felony, and Serious Violent Felony. Call types were assigned to Crime Categories based on mapping to the California Penal Code Part 1, Title 1-15. A crosswalk of BPD call types used during the 2015-2019 period, and Crime Categories, is provided in Appendix A. 1 dd_number_of_leas_enrolled_part_status_and_method_of_data_sub_by_pop_group-2018_final.pdf (fbi.gov)
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 71 Table 5. NICJR Crime Categories
Crime Category Description
Non-Criminal (NC) Any event not identified in the California State Penal Code Misdemeanor (MISD) Any event identified in the California State Penal Code as a Misdemeanor
Non-Violent Felony (NV FEL) Any event identified in the California State Penal Code as a Non-Violent Felony
Serious Violent Felony (SV FEL) Any event identified in the California State Penal Code as a Serious Violent Felony
Call type description variables also allowed NICJR to determine CFS initiation source – BPD Public Safety Communications Center, officer-initiated activity or On-View, CHP transfer, telephone, VOIP, or other source.
In addition, CFS response time data was used to determine how long it takes BPD officers to respond to CFS and how much time officers spend on CFS by incident type once they arrive on-scene. There were five-time variables provided in the data. To determine how long it took officers to respond to CFS, NICJR assessed the length of time between call dispatch and an officer arriving on-scene. To determine how long officers spent responding to events, NICJR analyzed the length of time between an officer arriving on-scene and clearing the call. NICJR was also able to use CAD data to determine the mean number of officers responding to each type of call by Crime Category.
Table 6. Berkeley CAD Data Time Variable Descriptions
CAD Data Variable Label CAD Translation
CreateDateTime Time call first came into the Communications Center Dispatch Time Time call was first dispatched to an officer EnRouteTime Time officer is enroute to the scene of a call OnSceneTime Time officer arrived on-scene
ClearTime Time officer is back in service to take new calls
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 72 CHARACTERISTICS OF CALLS
Analysis of 358,269 events from 2015-2019
NICJR analyzed the CFS data set across a number of metrics including overall call type frequency, call initiation source, and call Crime Category. Figures and tables in this section draw from a sample of 358,269 unique calls for service covering the period 2015-2019 within the CAD files NICJR obtained from BPD. As noted in the Objectives, Scope, and Methodology, section above, BPD used 183 unique call types during the reviewed period. This section provides various analyses of this data.
Event Initiation
Calls for service may be initiated in three primary ways: by calling 911, by calling the BPD non-emergency line, or by officer-initiated call. The other ways in which a CFS may be initiated are through a CHP transfer, telephone, VOIP, alarm, cell phone, on view, traffic stop, or other means. Figure 1 shows the proportion of events by initiation source. Over 55 percent of all calls during the 2015-2019 period were initiated through the non-emergency line.
Figure 2. Events by Initiation Source
* Does not include calls with missing values
T op T en Events
Table 7 provides the top ten events by Initiation Source. Together, these call types comprised 68 percent of all BPD events over the study period.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 73 Table 7. T op 10 Calls by Initiation Source
Officer Initiated 911 Emergency Non-Emergency Line
Traffic Disturbance Disturbance
Security Check Wireless 911 Audible Alarm
Pedestrian Stop Ascertain 911 Noise Disturbance
Officer Flagged Down Welfare Check Welfare Check
Suspicious Vehicle Suspicious Circumstances Trespassing Parking Violation Battery Petty Theft
Bike Stop Suspicious Person Advice
Abandoned Vehicle Family Disturbance Suspicious Circumstances Found Property Petty Theft Parking Violation
Disturbance Mental Illness Suspicious Person
Events by Crime Category
Figure 2 shows the frequency of call types by Crime Category. BPD averaged 71,654 events per year during the analysis period. The vast majority of these CFS, 81.3 percent, are classified as Non-Criminal; as reflected in Appendix B, Non-Criminal CFS consistently comprised a majority of events during the 2015 to 2019 period.
Figure 3. Percent of Events by Crime Category
*Does Not Include 2,943 CFS w/missing Call Type Description During the five-year period reviewed, at least 96.7 percent of On-View events were Non-Criminal and over 76 percent of 911 calls comprised Non-Criminal events. Interestingly, Officer-Initiated calls were the most likely to be Non-Criminal.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 74 Table 8. Percent of Non-Criminal Events by Initiation Source Event Initiation Source Y ear
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
911 Calls 77.5% 76.6% 76.6% 76.7% 72.7%
Non-Emergency Calls 72.3% 72.7% 72.8% 73.5% 71.1%
Officer-Initiated 98% 98.3% 98.1% 96.7% 96.9%
Figure 3 identifies the number of events by Crime Category over the review period. The total number of events across all categories declined between 2015 and 2019.
Figure 4. Number of Events by Crime Category
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 75 NUMBER OF RESPONDING
PERSONNEL
The number of personnel who responded to CFS varied depending on the event type. Table 9 shows the average number of personnel who responded to a CFS by Crime Category. As expected, when dealing with a call that is more serious in nature, the average number of responding officers was higher than for a less serious event. The average number of responding personnel across all event types was 2.4.
Table 9. Responding Personnel by Crime Category
Non-Criminal Misdemeanor Non-Violent
Felony
Serious Violent
Felony
2015 1.8 1.7 1.9 4.2
2016 1.8 1.7 1.7 4.5
2017 1.8 1.7 1.9 4.4
2018 1.7 1.7 1.8 3.7
2019 1.7 1.7 1.9 3.8
Time Spent Responding to Calls
Tables 10 and 11 outline the total amount of time spent on CFS by Crime Category. In determining the time spent on event response, NICJR analyzed two time periods. First, the time period beginning when an officer arrived on-scene to when the officer closed or “cleared” the call and was back “in-service” and able to take other calls. Using this methodology, NICJR was able to identify how much time officers actually spent handling a specific call. An alternate and more comprehensive view of officer response time accounts for the time from event initiation to close.
Table 10. Time Spent Responding to Events, On-Scene to Close Crime Category T otal Hours Arrival
to Close
Average Hours
Per Event
Proportion of T otal
Officer Time
Non-Criminal 98,119 .38 52.3%
Misdemeanor 20,414 .53 10.9%
Non-Violent Felony 33,836 .79 18.0%
Serious Violent Felony 35,275 .74 6.9%
Grand Total 187,644 .61 100.0%
Note* Excludes calls with missing on-scene or clear times.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 76 Table 11. Time Spent Responding to Events, Initiation to Close Crime Category T otal Hours
Initiation to Close
Average Hours
Per Event
Proportion of T otal
Officer Time
Non-Criminal 266,832 1.0 42.1%
Misdemeanor 120,063 2.9 18.9%
Non-Violent Felony 161,656 4.8 25.5%
Serious Violent Felony 85,703 2.5 13.5%
Grand Total 634,254 3.4 100.0%
Note* Excludes calls with missing on-scene or clear times.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 77 NICJR CERN CATEGORIZATION
In our work to Reimagine Public Safety and transform policing, NICJR has developed a tiered dispatch system to provide alternatives to police response to CFS, increase public safety, and improve the quality of emergency response. This model, the Community Emergency Response Network (CERN), builds upon NICJR’s CFS classification structure.
Once each call type is associated with one of NICJR’s four CFS Categories, an additional step is taken to do a default assignment of CFS to CERN Tiers as follows:
Figure 5. Tiered Dispatch
CERN default Tier assignments for the 2015-2019 BPD CFS analyzed are outlined below.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 78 Table 12. CERN Tier Default Assignment Table
Crime
Category CERN BPD % of Call
Types
# of Call Types
in Each Tier
Tier 1 Only 50% 92
Tier 2 Lead Present 14% 25
Tier 3 Present Lead 9% 16
Tier 4 Only 27% 50
Default Tier Assignment Modified Based on Arrest Data and Other Factors A. Arrest Rates
Subsequent to the default classification, NICJR examines arrest data to determine if adjustments to default Tier assignments are warranted. Most typically, this results in CFS “moving up” a Tier based on the likelihood of arrest. The arrest analysis includes the identification of the overall jurisdiction arrest rate, as well as the high-end of that rate, below which the vast majority of CFS arrest rates fall. For Berkeley, 10 percent was set as the arrest rate triggering Tier assignment review; only 6 of 91 CFS that resulted in an arrest had an arrest rate in excess of 10 percent in the years 2015 to 2019. Call types with arrest rates that significantly exceed the triggering arrest rate generally moved to higher Tiers. For example, the Non-Criminal CFS warrant service was moved from Tier 1 to Tier 4 based on arrest rate data.
Figure 6. T otal Arrest Rate Count Dispersion Scatterplot
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 79 Table 13. CFS CERN Tier Assignments After Arrest Review Crime
Category CERN BPD % of Call
Types
# of Call Types
in Each Tier
Tier 1 Only 50% 91
Tier 2 Lead Present 13% 24
Tier 3 Present Lead 9% 16
Tier 4 Only 28% 52
B. Alternate Response Warranted
Beyond arrest data, CERN Tier assignment is modified based on NICJR’s assessment of call types that would benefit from an alternate response. Some Serious Violent Felony call types typically move from Tier 4 to Tier 3 pursuant to this aspect of the analysis, in order to allow for a CERN response with an officer leading. For example, the call type assault, gang related has been downgraded from a Tier 4 to a Tier 3 in order to allow the CERN to assist officers involved. Warrants have similarly been downgraded from a Tier 4 to a Tier 3 with this rationale in mind. Conversely, some call types moved from lower to higher Tiers as a result of this aspect of the default Tier assignment modification methodology. Various events that fall under the assist call type, for example, are allocated to Tier 4 even though these CFS are Non-Criminal in nature. The rationale here is that if the BPD is being asked to assist another law enforcement agency, for example, a BPD response is required.
Table 14. CFS CERN Tier Assignments After Alternate Response Review Crime
Category CERN BPD % of Call
Types
# of Call Types
in Each Tier
Tier 1 Only 50% 92
Tier 2 Lead Present 10% 19
Tier 3 Present Lead 18% 33
Tier 4 Only 21% 39
Based on NICJR’s analysis, and as reflected in Table 14, 50 percent of BPD CFS could be handled solely by a community-response, reflecting 76 percent of BPD calls for service.
NICJR appreciates that there may be questions about the assignment of certain call types to Tier 1. Selected Tier 1 event types have been tagged for additional explanation of Tier assignment in that vein; the explanations can be found following in Appendix C.
As a final cut of the data, Table 15 depicts the top ten call types by initiation source and CERN Tier. One hundred percent of the top ten On-View event types, and 80 percent of top ten 911 and Non-Emergency event types, are assigned to CERN Tier 1.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 80 Table 15. T op T en Call Types by Initiation Source and Tier Officer Initiated CERN
Tier 911 Emergency CERN
Tier Non-Emergency Line CERN
Tier
Traffic 1 Disturbance 1 Disturbance 1
Security Check 1 Wireless 911 1 Audible Alarm 1
Pedestrian Stop 1 Ascertain 911 1 Noise Disturbance 1
Officer Flagged Down 1 Welfare Check 1 Welfare Check 1
Suspicious Vehicle 1 Suspicious Circumstances 1 Trespassing 1 Parking Violation 1 Battery 3 Petty Theft 2
Bike Stop 1 Suspicious Person 1 Advice 1
Abandoned Vehicle 1 Family Disturbance 1 Suspicious Circumstances 1 Found Property 1 Petty Theft 2 Parking Violation 1
Disturbance 1 Mental Illness 1 Suspicious Person 1
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 81 RECOMMENDATIONS
AND CONCLUSION
Analysis of BPD CFS data for the period 2015-2019 indicates that over 81 percent of CFS were for Non- Criminal events, and that the non-emergency line was the single largest event generating source. Although the vast majority of CFS during the analysis period were Non-Criminal, an average of 2.4 officers was dispatched for event response. NICJR’s assessment of viable alternate responses indicates that 50 percent of CFS types, representing 76 percent of all calls for service, can be responded to with no BPD involvement, with another 18 percent requiring BPD to be present, but to serve in a support, rather than a lead, role.
With these results in mind, NICJR offers the following recommendations:
Key Recommendations
1. Alternative response options should be developed for the 50 percent of CFS that do not require a law en
forcement response or are appropriate for a dual response by law enforcement and a community-based/ non law enforcement service provider.
Data-Specific Recommendations
2. Develop a mechanism for clear identification of mental health related calls within the data including ones tha
t overlap with homelessness.
3. Pr
ovide a coding element in the data that allows a researcher or analyst to identify those types of calls that result in a use of force including the type of use of force.
4. Cr
eate a publicly accessible data key for all of the variable code types in BPD data.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 82 APPENDIX H
Berkeley Calls for
Service Analysis
82
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 83 Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 85 E
merging Non-Enforcement Models of Community Response ...................................................................... 86 E
ugene Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) .......................................................... 86 D
enver Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) ......................................................................................... 87 O
lympia Crisis Response Unit (CRU) .................................................................................................. ............. 87
San Francisco Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) ...................................................................................... 88 Austin Expanded M
obile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) ......................................................................... 89 H
ouston Crisis Call Diversion (CCD) ................................................................................................... ............. 90
City of Albuquerque Community Safety Department (ACS) ...................................................................... 90 L
os Angeles County Alternative Crisis Response (ACR) .............................................................................. 90 S
eattle Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention ........................................................... 91 I
thaca Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety .............................................................. 91 T
iered Dispatch & Community Emergency Response Network ................................................................ 91 N
on-Law Enforcement Crime Reduction Strategies ......................................................................................... 93 Ne
w York City Mayor’s Action Plan (MAP) for Neighborhood Safety ..................................................... 93 D
omestic Violence ................................................................................................... ........................................... 94
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ....................................................................................................................... 94 T
raffic Enforcement .................................................................................................. ........................................... 95
Neighbor Disputes ............................................................................................................................................... 96 S
ubstance Use ...................................................................................................................................................... 97 C
ommunity Driven Violence Reduction Strategies .........................................................................................100 G
un Violence Reduction Strategy ..................................................................................................................100 H
ospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs) .........................................................................102 O
ffice of Neighborhood Safety/ Advance Peace ........................................................................................102 S
treet Outreach ................................................................................................... ...............................................103
Police Training ..........................................................................................................................................................105 S
ARA Problem Solving Model ................................................................................................... .....................105
Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC) ................................................................................................... .........105
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 84 Project Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) .....................................................................106 Community
Safety Partnership (Watts) ................................................................................................... ......107
Focused Deterrence ..........................................................................................................................................107 E
limination of Pretextual Stops ......................................................................................................................108 E
thical Society of Police (ESOP) ................................................................................................... ...................108
Chicago PD Black Public Safety Alliance (BPSA) ........................................................................................109 P
olice Diversity ................................................................................................... ................................................109
Warrior vs. Guardian Mentality ................................................................................................... ....................110
Accountability ................................................................................................... ..................................................110
Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights ......................................................................................................110 Qualified I
mmunity ............................................................................................................................................111 A
dditional Accountability Measures of Note ...............................................................................................111 P
rocedural Justice ................................................................................................... ...........................................112
Police Training ..........................................................................................................................................................112 I
mplicit Bias .................................................................................................. .......................................................113 De-escalation ......................................................................................................................................................113 C
ommunity Engagement ................................................................................................... ...............................114
Data Driven Risk Management ................................................................................................... ...................114
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 85 INTRODUCTION
As a part of the City of Berkeley’s Reimagining Public Safety process, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) was commissioned to conduct an assessment of programs and models that increase safety, properly respond to emergencies, reduce crime and violence, and improve policing. The New and Emerging Models of Community Safety and Policing report has been prepared in response to that charge. NICJR submits this report to the Reimagining Public Safety Taskforce (RPSTF) to inform the RPSTF’s development of recommendations for submission to the Berkeley City Council (Council) on alternative responses and police reforms.
The report comprises a brief overview of several examples of Emerging Non-Enforcement Models of Community Response; Non-Law Enforcement Crime Reduction Strategies; Community Driven Violence Reduction Strategies; and Policing Strategies. As hundreds of cities across the country engage in reimagining public safety processes and launching new programs or altering existing models, this report could not possibly be universally comprehensive; it does however provide the RPSTF and the Council with illustrative examples of key options to consider as the City of Berkeley (City) reimagines its public safety system. The programs and strategies featured in this report were selected based on a number of factors including relationship to the core pillars of NICJR’s reimagining framework: Reduce, Improve, Reinvest; level of institutionalization and track record; City of Berkeley staff and RPSTF request; and relevance to particular reform efforts underway or likely to be underway in Berkeley.
Note that one aspect of police reform, relating specifically to police oversight, is not directly addressed in this report. Review of these bodies was not included due to the City’s new Police Accountability Board, approved overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2020.
The Berkeley Police Accountability Board will be one of the most expansive and progressive of its kind in the country when launched in the summer of 2021.
NICJR’s second commissioned report for the City, Alternative Responses to Law Enforcement, will draw from and build upon several of the new and emerging models outlined herein.
This report last updated October 2021. Due to the evolving nature of these models, information may be outdated.
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 86 Police departments receive a large volume of 911 calls or other Calls for Service (CFS) requesting emergency
response. In the past several decades policing has
evolved from officers walking beats to departments
primarily responding to CFS with patrol officers in
squad cars. A number of new assessments of these
CFS have revealed that a majority are low-level or
even non-criminal in nature, like noise complaints,
abandoned cars, and petty theft. Multiple analyses
have estimated that less than 2 percent of CFS
are for violent incidents.
1,2 Retired Chicago police
officer David Franco explains “We spend entire shifts
dealing with noncriminal matters from disturbance
and suspicious person calls…With so many low-level
issues put on our shoulders, police cannot prioritize
the serious crimes.”
3 In addition to responding to a high volume of low-
level and non-criminal 911 CFS, police have also been
increasingly asked to respond to people experiencing
mental health crises. Many of these encounters have
resulted in uses of force by police, including deadly
officer involved shootings. A number of the emerging
examples of effective community driven crime
reduction and emergency response models focus
specifically on mental health incidents.
Eugene Crisis Assistance Helping Out on
the Streets (CAHOOTS)
Crisis Assistance Helping Out on The Streets, or
CAHOOTS, is a mobile emergency intervention
1 https:/ /www.vera.org/downloads/publications/
understanding-police-enforcement-911-analysis.pdf#page=134 2 https:/ /www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-
police-time-violent-crime.html
3 https:/ /chicago.suntimes.com/2020/12/9/22166229/
chicago-police-department-911-calls-civilian-community- responders-cpd
EMERGING NON-
ENFORCEMENT MODELS OF
COMMUNITY RESPONSE
service established in 1989 in Eugene, Oregon.4 This
program is free and readily available twenty-four
hours a day for mental health and other non-violent
related calls.
5 CAHOOTS is directed by the White Bird
Clinic, a regional health center in partnership with the City of Eugene. Each CAHOOTS unit is comprised of
an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a mental
health service provider.
6 CAHOOTS staff are required to go through 40 hours
of classroom education and over 500 hours of field
work that is supervised by a qualified guide. Their
education consists of de-escalation methods and
emergency response services. CAHOOTS personnel
are able to perform wellness checks, offer mental
health services and substance use resources,
administer medical aid, and provide mediation
assistance.
7 More than 60 percent of CAHOOTS clients are
experiencing homelessness and nearly 30 percent
have serious mental illness. CAHOOTS had some
level of involvement in nearly 21,000 public-initiated
CFS in 2019, with the number of calls having steadily
increased since the program’s inception. Among all
adults involved with CAHOOTS, the average age was
45.5 years.
Numerous evaluations have shown consistent, robust
results for the CAHOOTS program. Approximately
5-8 percent of calls are diverted from the police to
CAHOOTS, comprising nearly 14,000 calls annually
that CAHOOTS alone responds to annually, according
4 Id.
5 https:/ /www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-
justice/reports/2019/10/02/475220/neighborhoodstat-
strengthening-public-safety-community-empowerment/
6 https:/ /www.mentalhealthportland.org/wp-content/
uploads/2019/05/2018CAHOOTSBROCHURE.pdf
7 https:/ /www.mentalhealthportland.org/wp-content/
uploads/2019/05/2018CAHOOTSBROCHURE.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 87 to an analysis of 2019 CFS. Of these, only 2.2 percent necessitated backup or police involvement. 8 The
program costs approximately $2 million annually and
generates an estimated $8.5 million in savings for the
Eugene Police Department along with an additional
$2.9 million in savings for other city government
agencies.
9,10
Several cities have explored or are currently
implementing replications of CAHOOTS. In Oakland,
the city is preparing to launch the Mobile Assistance
Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO)
initiative.
11 The pilot program will be managed by
the Oakland Fire Department and will be available
twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week
in two-person teams.
12 The City of Oakland has
allocated $4.5 million for the year 2022-2023 along
with $10 million in other funding. The program is
projected to pilot in East Oakland neighborhoods
anywhere from November 2021 to February 2022.
13 Denver Support T eam
Assisted Response (STAR)
Based on the CAHOOTS program in Eugene,
Oregon, STAR is a community responder model
created in 2020. STAR is a joint effort between
many stakeholders, including the Denver Police
Department (DPD), Denver’s Paramedic Division,
Mental Health Center of Denver, and community-
based organizations. STAR provides direct, emergency
response to residents of the community who are
experiencing difficulties connected to mental health,
poverty, homelessness, or substance use. The STAR
transport vehicle operates seven days a week from
6 AM to 10 PM.
14 The time frame of operation was
8 https:/ /www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/56717/ CAHOOTS-Program-Analysis
9 https:/ /www.vera.org/behavioral-health-crisis-alternatives/ cahoots
10 https:/ /www.mentalhealthportland.org/wp-content/
uploads/2019/05/2018CAHOOTSBROCHURE.pdf
11 https:/ /urbanstrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ USC-MACRO-REPORT-6_10_20.pdf
12 https:/ /abc7news.com/macro-oakland-civilian-crisis- response-team-mental-health-police-dept/10430680/
13 https:/ /www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-leaders-push-to-
start-urgently-needed-macro-program-create-oversight
14 https:/ /denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/31/star-program- mental-health-denver-police/
chosen based on an analysis of CFS data.15 STAR unit
staff are made up of unarmed personnel, with each
team including a mental health service provider and
a paramedic.
16 Before the implementation of STAR, calls to 911
were either transmitted to the DPD or the hospital
system. The majority of calls (68 percent) routed to
STAR concerned individuals that were experiencing
homelessness. Around 41 percent of individuals
who STAR had been involved with were referred to
additional services by the STAR unit staff.
17 In just half a year after the program was established, the STAR unit had addressed 748 calls. The DPD
was never called to support the unit in responding to
these CFS. Moreover, there were no arrests made in
any of the calls evaluated during the initial six months of program operation. To expand the program, the
City of Denver has approved $1 million from the
City’s supplemental fund to go along with the already
allocated $1.4 million in the original 2021 budget.
18 Olympia Crisis Response Unit (CRU)
Incorporating both CAHOOTS principles and crisis
intervention teams, the Crisis Response Unit (CRU)
was implemented in Olympia, Washington in April
2019, as a result of a 2017 citywide safety measure
that allocated an initial half million dollars for an
improved crisis response model. The Olympia Police
Department (OPD) contracted with a community-
based organization to serve as a new option for
behavioral health calls for service. The CRU team
consists of six mental health professionals that operate in pairs. Along with a state certification in behavioral health, CRU staff must undergo training that includes
police patrol exposure, community engagement, and
education about available community support.
19 15 https:/ /wp-denverite.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/ uploads/sites/4/2021/02/STAR_Pilot_6_Month_Evaluation_
FINAL-REPORT.pdf
16 https:/ /www.9news.com/article/news/denver-star-
program-results-police/73-90e50e08-94c5-474d-8e94-
926d42f8f41d
17 Id.
18 https:/ /denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/31/star-program- mental-health-denver-police/
19 https:/ /www.vera.org/behavioral-health-crisis-alternatives/ cru-and-familiar-faces
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 88 CRU operates from 7 AM to 8:40 PM Monday
through Thursday and 10 AM to 8:40 PM Friday
through Sunday, supplying clients with supports such
as mediation, housing assistance, and referrals to
additional services.
20 Police lines of communication
are utilized by CRU staff to identify situations that
necessitate CRU response. The City’s 911 operations
hub and law enforcement personnel can also refer
callers directly to CRU. Often, 911 callers request
CRU assistance specifically, as the team has fostered
strong community ties. Moreover, a significant
portion of calls for service referred to CRU originate
from community-based service providers, as opposed
to the 911 system itself. When CRU staff encounter
an individual the team has been called on to support
multiple times, they refer the individual to Familiar
Faces, a peer navigation program.
21 Most individuals who were assisted by CRU were
experiencing homelessness or mental health issues
at the time of service. Out of the 511 calls CRU
engaged with from April to June of 2020, OPD was
20 https:/ /www.olympiawa.gov/services/police_department/ crisis_response___peer_navigators.php
21 https:/ /www.vera.org/behavioral-health-crisis-alternatives/ cru-and-familiar-faces
only needed 86 times. Establishing and maintaining
trust between CRU and residents is an essential
part of the initiative.
22 Post-implementation surveys
show that many police officers became advocates of
the model after seeing the program in action for six
months.
San Francisco Street Crisis Response
T eam (SCRT)
The City and County of San Francisco has implemented
a pilot alternative response program for individuals
experiencing a behavioral health crisis. The San
Francisco Fire Department, in conjunction with the
Department of Public Health and the Department
of Emergency Management, responds to 911 calls
related to these issues via Street Crisis Response
Teams (SCRT). Street Crisis Response Teams include
a community paramedic, behavioral clinician, and
peer specialist.
23 Currently, there are six teams that
provide an around-the-clock response.24
22 https:/ /www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/ reports/2020/10/28/492492/community-responder-model/
23 https:/ /sf.gov/street-crisis-response-team
24 https:/ /sf.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/SCRT%20
September%20Update%20%281%29.pdf
Remaining Public Safety in Berkeley: Final Report and Implementation Plan 89 SCRT collaborated with community-based
organizations including RAMS, Inc. (Richmond Area
Multi-Services) and HealthRIGHT360 to ensure that
community providers and local residents would be
able to provide feedback and input about the new
program.
25 The proposed SCRT budget for fiscal
year 2021-2022 is approximately $13.5 million,
which includes staff training and team expansion.
An evaluation of the pilot program place is currently
underway.
26 When 911 calls come into the dispatch center that
are determined to be appropriate for SCRT, SCRT
is dispatched; a team responds on average in fifteen
minutes. No calls for service routed to SCRT required
police action or backup in the first two months of
the pilot. Approximately 74 percent of individuals
assisted by SCRT had their issues resolved, whether
it be through transfers to additional supports or de-
escalation techniques.
27 Initial analyses show that
SCRT could respond to up to 17,000 behavioral health
calls each year. Because of the small scope of the initial pilot, only 20 percent of behavioral health calls received during the first two months of implementation were
able to be responded to by the SCRT.
Austin Expanded Mobile Crisis
Outreach T eam (EMCOT)
In order to reduce the burden on the Austin Police
Department (APD) associated with mental health
calls, the City of Austin, Texas established the
Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) in
conjunction with Integral Care, the City’s community-
based mental health service provider. EMCOT assists
individuals undergoing a behavioral or mental health
crisis. Agencies such as APD or the Sheriff’s Office
are able to call for EMCOT services by way of the
911 dispatch hub. EMCOT provides its clients with
supports in the form of therapy, life coaching,
rehabilitation, and other services.
28 Since its establishment in 2013, EMCOT has assisted
6,859 clients. The most recently available data is
25 https:/ /sf.gov/street-crisis-response-team
26 https:/ /www.sfdph.org/dph/files/IWG/SCRT_IWG_Issue_ Brief_FINAL.pdf
27 Id.
28 https:/ /www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.
cfm?id=302634
from FY2017, which shows that EMCOT responded
to 3,244 CFS, at a rate of approximately 9 times per
day. Each client was served for an average of 21 days
and provided three different types of supports. In
general, post-crisis services are available for up to 3 months after initial contact.
29 Integral Care reported
that 86 percent of calls routed to a mental health
response did not require police backup.
30 EMCOT is currently available from 8AM to 12AM
Monday through Friday and 10AM to 8PM on
Saturday and Sunday.
31 With the additional funding,
EMCOT is now projected to provide around-the-
clock availability for calls for service. Expansion of
telehealth services for the program is also included
in the new funding.
32 For all CFS involving EMCOT,
85.4 percent were handled without police officers.33
In 2020, a new dispatch system was established in
Austin and a mental health paraprofessional was
permanently stationed in the 911 dispatch center.
Callers to 911 now have the option to request
mental health services instead of police.
34 If the
operator determines the caller would benefit from
these supports, the call is handed over to a mental
health professional. If a clinician is unavailable at the time, an EMCOT staff member is deployed. Currently,
the clinicians are present all week for a set number
of hours each day. This initiative was funded by the
reallocation of $11 million from the Austin Police
Department’s budget. The EMCOT budget itself was
also recently increased to $3.15 million, a 75 percent
increase in funding for the program.
35+
29 Id.
30 https:/ /www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/new-911-call- option-offers-direct-mental-health-help-that-one-attorney- says-may-have-saved-one-familys-son/
31 https:/ /www.fox7austin.com/news/crisis-counselors-
responding-to-more-mental-health-calls-in-austin
32 http:/ /www.austintexas.gov/edims/pio/document.
cfm?id=320044
33 https:/ /www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/08/integral- care-set-to-address-most-mental-health-emergency-calls- without-involving-apd/
34 https:/ /www.kvue.com/article/news/health/apd-adds-
mental-health-services-to-911-answering-script/269-
e7dde2e6-4a65-4d5c-a2a7-a26e57110a81
35 https:/ /www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2020/08/integral- care-set-to-address-most-mental-health-emergency-calls- without-involving-apd/