SONJA K. BERNDT
Pasadena.CA 91107
May 29,2022
Mayor Victor Gordo (vgordo(a),cityofpasadena.net)
Vice Mayor Andy Wilson (avvilsonfS'.cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Tyron Hampton (thampton@,cltyofpasadena.net) Councilmember John Kennedy (johnikennedv(a)cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Steve Madison (smadison(<zl,cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Gene Masuda (gmasuda@,cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Jessica Rivas ('ierivasf%cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Felicia Williams ([email protected]) Members of the Public Safety Committee
[email protected]
con'espondence(a),cityofpasadena.n.et
Pasadena, California
Re: Pyblic_Safety Committee Meeting 5/3 1/2022: Agenda Item # 1 - Follow Up from 5/11/2022 Public Safety Committee re: Police Department Budget Dear Mayor Gordo, Members of the City Council,
& Members of the Public Safety Committee:
I have been a resident of Pasadena for 19 years. I am an advocate for persons experiencing homelessness. The purpose of this letter is to respond to the staff letter dated May 31, 2022, posted with the agenda, which states, inter alia, as follows:
6. Can HOPE and PORT work later in the night? There is a lack of referral services available after hours. Based on calls for service, historical highest-level call volume is consistently between the hours of Sam and 4pm Monday through Friday.
On July 13, 2021,1 submitted Public Record Act Request #16336. The City produced numerous records in response, which I have reviewed. One file, labeled "CFS that were transient related 07.01.20-6.30.21" is a spreadsheet of all "transient-related" calls for service during fiscal year 2021. I counted the calls for service listed as occurring during the period of 4:01 p.m. (16:01) to 7:59 a.m. (07:59) and all calls on the weekends for the first three months of fiscal year 2021. The results are as follows: July: 254 calls out of 497 (51.1%); August: 222 out of 343 calls (64.7%); and September: 217 out of 355 calls 1 (56.36%). So for these three months, the highest-level call volume was not between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Rather, the highest-level call volume was "after hours" and on weekends.
There is another file in the records produced labeled "918 and 918v CFS 07.01.2020 to
6.30.2021." According to PPD's "call type definitions" file folder, "918" calls for service are "mental health (psycho)." Calls for service denoted as "918v" are "violent mental health (psycho)."
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According to PPD's spreadsheet, in FY2021, there were 1,994 total mental-health related calls for services. Of that number, 1,955 were non-violent and only 39 were denoted as violent mental health calls. Thus, more than 98% of these calls were non-violent.
From the above-referenced file, I counted 1,284 calls for service between the hours of 4:01 p.m. (16:01) and 7:59 a.m. (07:59) and during the weekends for the entire fiscal year 2021. Thus, as for all mental-health related calls for service in FY2021, the "highest- level call volume," 64.39%, occurred "after hours" and on weekends, not between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.1 Why is this important? Unhoused residents, especially those suffering from a mental health crisis, are among our City's most vulnerable residents. Mental health is a major issue in our City as evidenced by the number of calls for service and those calls clearly do not end when the business day ends. Unarmed, fully trained, experienced mental health responders and social workers are needed for these calls, not police officers.
A 24/7 comprehensive program deploying trained, mental health professionals as part of a Mental-Health-Crisis-First-Response team (like CAHOOTS), combined with long term outreach services such as those provided by PORT, could provide the 21st century, life- and-money-saving care needed by Pasadenans suffering from mental health crises. This could also eliminate any perceived need for armed police officer response, providing Pasadenans compassionate, specialized care and additional savings. Programs like this employed by other cities cost only a fraction of the millions of dollars in city-wide savings they provide, and save countless lives.
Community members have been urging the City Council to agendize the subject of a 24/7 crisis mental health response in the CAHOOTS model or similar for well over a year now. At a City Council meeting last June, Vice Mayor Andy Wilson asked that it be agendized. Mayor Gordo agreed to agendize the subject in the Public Safety Committee, but he has not done so.
1 If one excludes all line items denoted in the spreadsheet as "duplicate," the result is 64.5% of calls for service between the hours of 1601 and 0759.
2 Please agendize this matter immediately, have providers experienced in this field present relevant information and answer questions, and seek community input on this highly relevant Public Health matter.2
Thank you for your time and consideration of this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/
SonjaK. Berndt
Pasadena
CC: Cynthia Kurtz, Interim City Manager
2 Also, please have staff consider changing the derogatory labels "transient" and "mental health-psycho. "Transient" is also inappropriate since these calls for service likely involved many of our unhoused residents.
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