Memorandum — Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (psfss), October 17, 2024

PSFSS COMMITTEE AGENDA: 10/17/24
ITEM: (d)3.
10/7/2024
TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE

AND STRATEGIC

SUPPORT COMMITTEE
FROM: Zane Barnes
SUBJECT: See Below DATE: October 2, 2024
Approved Date:

SUBJECT: Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service

RECOMMENDATION
(1) Accept the Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service Report; and
(2) Refer and cross-reference the Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service Report to the full City Council at its meeting on January 14, 2025.

SUMMARY AND OUTCOME
This report provides an update on three overlapping projects addressing multiple interrelated City Council directives given between February and June 2024. First, staff explored potential co-response models for incidents involving individuals with a disability. Second, staff continued exploration of alternative response models for select 911 calls for service, including for calls involving unhoused individuals and/or individuals with a disability, including mental health issues. This included developing a Memorandum of Agreement with the County of Santa Clara (County) to fund additional alternative response coverage. Third, staff explored co-response models for domestic violence incidents. Across these three projects, staff developed nine findings. Staff recommends cross-referencing this report to City Council on January 14, 2025.

BACKGROUND
Through the approval of the Mayor’s March Budget Message for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024, the City Council directed staff to “identify types of 911 calls that might be

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assigned to capable public safety or health personnel, including in partnership with the County or other service providers.” Staff was asked to focus on exploring call types that “may be suitable for an alternative response model, especially calls involving mental health crises, homelessness, and youth.”1 In response to this direction, staff brought forward an analysis of 911 calls and findings for opportunities to expand alternative and co-response to City Council on February 27, 2024.2 After receiving this report, City Council directed staff to explore the following:
• Potential models for alternative response and co-response for incidents involving individuals with a disability
• Alternative response models for welfare checks, disturbances, suspicious circumstances, and trespassing calls involving mental health issues or unhoused individuals
• Potential models that include partner organizations as a co-response with police to domestic violence calls3
City Council also directed staff to return to the Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support (PSFSS) Committee in the Fall of 2024 with an update on collaboration and coordination efforts with the County, as well as information on staffing and budget needs for expanding this work in the future.4
Through the approval of the March Budget Message for FY 2024-2025, the City Council directed staff to participate in exploratory conversations with the County’s leadership team to develop a shared framework for exploring alternative response models. City Council also directed staff to develop a Manager’s Budget Addendum (MBA) with cost estimates for funding an additional Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) through the County focused specifically on responding to calls within San José city limits.5
Finally, through the approval of the June Budget Message for FY 2024-2025, the City Council directed Staff to continue engaging with the County to accomplish two additional goals: (1) identify opportunities for expanded alternative response and 911-to-988 call diversion and return to the PSFSS Committee by December 2024; 6 and (2) transfer $450,000 of City funding to add an additional 40 hours per week of TRUST coverage for one year.
7 Staff was also directed to explore whether opioid
settlement funding could fund alternative response efforts. 1 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11736439&GUID=C8DF76A7-700D-49D0-8D26- 2831051BA9F6
2 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=e643d076-312e-4f9f-a7cd-8d37b0b22290 3 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=a721f3e3-35ed-469d-9c05-0265e9ee40f7 4 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=a721f3e3-35ed-469d-9c05-0265e9ee40f7 5 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showdocument?id=111351 6 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=caf282cb-679a-4400-adfc-5649cb024e0f 7 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/111619/638508700307070000; https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=03561e84-9cba-48b0-bef9-d06d477c8cf5

PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE October 2, 2024
Subject: Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service

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Staff prepared the attached Options for Expanding Alternative Response and CoResponse Programs to 911 Calls for Service Report in response to this direction.

ANALYSIS
Starting in February 2024, the City Manager’s Office has been exploring options for expanding City residents’ access to alternative response and co-response programs.

Staff approached this effort with the primary goal of improving responses to calls for service by matching residents’ needs with the most effective response. When exploring alternative response models, staff also sought to identify opportunities to relieve police officers of responsibility to respond to calls where their specialized skills and training are not required, allowing officers increased ability to focus on other priorities.

Staff developed nine findings based on this analysis, summarized in the table below:

Finding
#
Topic Description
1 Alternative
Response:

Disability
Many community members and advocates prefer
alternative response over co-response programs for
crisis events involving people with disabilities due to improved outcomes when specialized care is provided,
particularly when law enforcement is not required for
scene safety.
2 Police
Department
Crisis
Intervention
Training
The San José Police Department’s (SJPD) current
Crisis Intervention Training—designed to prepare SJPD
officers, dispatchers, and call takers for interactions involving individuals with disabilities, particularly mental and behavior health conditions, and educate them
about community resources available for people in
crisis--either equals or exceeds training requirements at other large law enforcement agencies. SJPD should
continuously evaluate the training to ensure it meets
evolving community needs, including alignment with
City’s disability affairs framework.
3 CoResponse:

Disability
The City currently partners with the County to provide a co-response program capable of offering specialized
response to incidents involving individuals in high-risk, high-acuity behavioral or mental health crisis:

Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT). PERT
pairs a licensed County clinician with a sworn SJPD

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Finding
#
Topic Description
officer and is dispatched through 911. This program
provides comparable services to co-response programs
in other jurisdictions but currently provides limited
coverage: it could be expanded by partnering with the
County to hire additional clinicians.
4 Alternative
Response:
911-to-988
Call Transfer
Pilot
Expansion
The City should continue to coordinate with the County
to identify opportunities to expand its current 911-to988 call transfer pilot program. 5 Alternative
Response:

TRUST oneyear pilot
City staff have finished creating a Memorandum of
Agreement with the County to effectuate City Council’s
allocation of $450,000 to fund a one-year TRUST pilot
expansion, which was approved by the City Council on
September 10, 2024. Staff will continue to monitor this effort to determine if it is effective in providing
expanded alternative response services to City
residents and whether the City should consider
allocating additional funding toward this program during future budget processes in the context of the City’s
overall fiscal condition and City priorities.
6 Alternative
Response:

Opioid
Funding
Opioid settlement resources are not suitable to fund
existing alternative response programs.
7 Alternative
Response:
988
Education
The City should continue to seek opportunities to
educate residents about alternative response services
available through the County’s 988 Call Center.
8 Co-response:

Domestic
Violence
Other jurisdictions have co-response teams dedicated
to providing in-person responses to domestic violence
incidents. The City could explore creating a new
program dedicated to in-person co-response to
domestic violence incidents.
9 Co-response:

Domestic
Violence
SJPD’s partnership with YWCA on the Domestic
Violence High Risk Response Team (DV-HRRT)
program provides an over-the-phone and limited inperson co-response program. These in-person services

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Finding
#
Topic Description
are limited, and the program could be adjusted to
increase in-person responses.

EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
This report’s findings identify multiple avenues for expanded alternative and coresponse services. Some proposals, such as the alternative response proposals, require staff to continue coordinating with the County to determine if implementation is feasible. Other proposals would require new investments of staff time and financial resources within SJPD. Given the level of effort this work entails, staff may require City Council direction through the annual budget process, as implementation requirements would need to be balanced against other workload demands, overall financial conditions, and budget priorities in the City Manager’s Office and SJPD.

COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office, the City Manager’s Budget Office, the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, the San José Police Department, the County of Santa Clara County Executive’s Office, the County Behavioral Health Services Division, and the County Office of Disability Affairs.

PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City’s agenda website for the October 17, 2024, PSFSS Committee meeting and for the January 14, 2025, City Council meeting.

Staff met with members of the Race Equity Action Leadership Coalition several times during the development of the report to gather input and listen to their perspectives, particularly from former members of the Reimagining Public Safety Community Advisory Committee who helped to craft that Committee’s recommendations related to alternative response.

Additionally, staff met with stakeholder organizations and people with lived experience representing the disability community through individual and focus group meetings and a community outreach meeting on July 30, 2024.

PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE October 2, 2024
Subject: Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service

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COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION AND INPUT
No commission recommendations or input is associated with this item.

CEQA
Staff Reports, Assessments, Annual Reports, and Informational Memos that involve no approvals of any City action. Public Project number PP17-009.

PUBLIC SUBSIDY REPORTING
This item does not include a public subsidy as defined in section 53083 or 53083.1 of the California Government Code or the City’s Open Government Resolution.

Zane Barnes
Acting Director, Office of
Administration, Policy and
Intergovernmental Relations
For questions, please contact Tom Westphal, Deputy Director, Office of Administration, Policy, and Intergovernmental Relations, City Manager’s Office, at [email protected].

ATTACHMENT:

Options for Expanding Alternative Response and Co-Response Programs to 911 Calls for Service Report

ATTACHMENT
Options for Expanding Alternative
Response and Co-Response
Programs to 911 Calls for Service
Report
CITY OF SAN JOSÉ, OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
October 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................10

2. EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE AND CO-RESPONSE MODELS FOR INCIDENTS INVOLVING INDIVIDUALS WITH A DISABILITY ................................................................................................................................15 2A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan...........................................................................15 2B. Project Status Updates & Findings..............................................................................................17 2C. Additional Policy Options............................................................................................................23 2D. Next Steps and Related Efforts ...................................................................................................25

3. EXPANDING ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE FOR SELECT 911 CALLS FOR SERVICE ....................................26 3A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan...........................................................................26 3B. Project Status Updates & Findings..............................................................................................30 3C. Additional Policy Options............................................................................................................33 3D. Next Steps and Related Efforts ...................................................................................................34

4. EXPLORING CO-RESPONSE MODELS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCIDENTS ....................................35 4A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan...........................................................................35 4B. Project Status Updates & Findings..............................................................................................37 4C. Additional Policy Options............................................................................................................41 4D. Next Steps and Related Efforts ...................................................................................................41

5. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION
This report provides staff findings from three interrelated projects exploring how the City responds to select types of 911 calls for service.

When City residents call 911, they seek assistance resolving a broad array of concerns. The City’s 911 call takers and dispatchers match callers’ concerns with the correct responder. Under the City’s current model, police officers are dispatched for most concerns, which range in severity and urgency from addressing noise complaints to stopping violent crimes in progress.

This approach has several drawbacks. While the City’s police officers are highly trained to conduct law enforcement activities, they are not best suited to respond to situations requiring other specialized skills—such as addressing mental or behavioral health crises. Additionally, dispatching police officers to less serious calls can decrease the time they are able to spend on higher-priority issues, such as reducing violent crime.

Alternative response and co-response models are emerging concepts in emergency response that seek to address these drawbacks. Each type of model is defined in greater detail below.

Defining Alternative and Co-Response
“Alternative response” refers to a strategy for sending civilian responders to incidents that are currently or traditionally responded to by police officers. Incidents involving individuals with mental health challenges, with developmental disabilities, who are intoxicated, or who are unhoused are common types of calls for service selected for alternative response programs. Alternative response teams can be composed of a single type of responder or combined teams of multiple types of responders, and may include emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, mental health clinicians, social workers, or peer support specialists who have lived experience and can act as credible messengers for individuals in crisis. “Co-response” programs traditionally involve pairing a sworn police officer with a civilian specialist, and having both respond to the scene of an incident together. Coresponse is often appropriate in situations where a civilian responder can provide specialized care or services—for example, a clinician responding to a mental health incident—but safety considerations make it necessary for a police officer to respond along with civilian personnel. This report defines co-response broadly to also include programs where police officers respond to an incident first for security reasons, and-- after an incident scene is secure--civilian responders with specialized skills subsequently arrive to supplement the police response.

Council Direction
Through approval of the Mayor’s March Budget Message for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023- 2024, the City Council directed staff to “identify types of 911 calls that might be assigned to capable public safety or health personnel, including in partnership with the County or other service providers.” Staff was asked to focus on exploring call types that “may be suitable for an alternative response model, especially calls involving mental health crises, homelessness and youth.”1 In response to this direction, staff brought forward an analysis of 911 calls and findings for opportunities to expand alternative and co-response to City Council on February 27, 2024.2 After receiving this staff report, City Council directed staff to explore the following:
• potential models for alternative response and co-response for incidents involving individuals with a disability.
• alternative response models for welfare check, disturbance, suspicious circumstances, and trespassing calls involving mental health issues or unhoused individuals.
• potential models that include partner organizations as a co-response with police to domestic violence calls.3
City Council also directed staff to return to the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee in the Fall of 2024 with an update on collaboration and coordination efforts with the County, as well as information on staffing and budget needs for expanding this work in the future.4
Through approval of the March Budget Message for FY 2024-2025, City Council directed staff to participate in exploratory conversations with the County’s leadership team to develop a shared framework for exploring alternative response models. City Council also directed staff to develop a Manager’s Budget Addendum (MBA) with cost estimates for funding an additional Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) through the County, focused specifically on responding to calls within San José city limits.5
Finally, through approval of the June Budget Message for FY 2024-2025, the City Council directed staff to continue engaging with the County to accomplish two additional goals: (1) identify opportunities for expanded alternative response and 911-to-988 call diversion, and return to the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee by December 2024;6 and (2) transfer $450,000 of City funding to add an additional 40 hours of TRUST coverage for a one-year period.7 Staff was also directed to explore whether opioid settlement funding could fund alternative response efforts.

Report Approach and Findings
1 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11736439&GUID=C8DF76A7-700D-49D0-8D26- 2831051BA9F6
2 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=e643d076-312e-4f9f-a7cd-8d37b0b22290 3 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=a721f3e3-35ed-469d-9c05-0265e9ee40f7 4 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=a721f3e3-35ed-469d-9c05-0265e9ee40f7 5 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showdocument?id=111351 6 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=caf282cb-679a-4400-adfc-5649cb024e0f 7 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/111619/638508700307070000; https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=03561e84-9cba-48b0-bef9-d06d477c8cf5 Staff organized City Council’s direction into three separate but overlapping projects.

First, staff explored potential co-response models for incidents involving individuals with a disability. Second, staff continued exploration of alternative response models for select 911 calls for service, including for calls involving unhoused individuals and/or individuals with a disability, including mental health issues. Third, staff explored co-response models for domestic violence incidents.

Staff approached all three projects with a common goal: improve local responses to calls for service by matching residents’ needs with the most effective response.

When exploring alternative response models, staff also sought to identify opportunities to relieve police officers of responsibility to respond to calls where their specialized skills and training are not required. All projects were informed by community engagement, interviews with other jurisdictions and key stakeholders, literature reviews of current best practices in the field, and collaboration with City of San José and County of Santa Clara (County) Departments.

Based on this work to date, staff developed 9 findings; these findings are summarized below.

Finding
#
Topic Description
1 Alternative
Response:

Disability
Many community members and advocates prefer
alternative response over co-response programs for
crisis events involving people with disabilities due to improved outcomes when specialized care is provided,
particularly when law enforcement is not required for
scene safety.
2 Police
Department
Crisis
Intervention
Training
The San José Police Department’s (SJPD) current
Crisis Intervention Training--designed to prepare SJPD
officers, dispatchers, and call takers for interactions involving individuals with disabilities, particularly mental and behavior health conditions, and educate them
about community resources available for people in
crisis--either equals or exceeds training requirements at other large law enforcement agencies. SJPD should
continuously evaluate the training to ensure it meets
evolving community needs, including alignment with
City’s disability affairs framework.
3 CoResponse:

TRUST oneyear pilot
City staff have finished creating a Memorandum of
Agreement with the County to effectuate City Council’s
allocation of $450,000 to fund a one-year TRUST pilot
expansion which was approved by the City Council on
September 10, 2024. Staff will continue to monitor this effort to determine if it is effective in providing
expanded alternative response services to City
residents and whether the City should consider
allocating additional funding toward this program during future budget processes, in the context of the City’s
overall fiscal condition and City priorities.
6 Alternative
Response:

The following sections of this report detail and provide an expanded status update on these three projects.

2. EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE AND CO-RESPONSE MODELS FOR INCIDENTS

INVOLVING INDIVIDUALS WITH A DISABILITY
2A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan
Project Background
Disability is “an evolving concept resulting from attitudinal and environmental barriers hindering the participation of persons with disabilities in society,” according to the City’s Adopted Disability Inclusion Equity Pledge.
1 Disability is generally defined as
any condition that impacts the ability of a person to do certain activities or effectively interact with the world around them, socially or materially, and can include difficulties in hearing, vision, cognitive function, and mobility. It can also include mental and chronic health issues.

People with disabilities often have significant concerns about interactions with the law enforcement due to a variety of reasons. For example, individuals who are d/Deaf or have cognitive disabilities may have difficulty understanding or responding to police commands, which can lead to unnecessary escalation and/or use of force.

Additionally, officers responding to individuals with mental health issues or developmental disabilities may lack training necessary to safely address their needs, leading to misinterpretations of behavior as non-compliance or aggression. Recent national data indicates that people with serious mental health conditions constitute a statistically significant percentage of suspects injured in police interaction and involved in use-of-force cases. For example, a recent national study found that people with mental health conditions are 11.6 times more likely to experience police use of force, and 10.7 times more likely to experience police-related injury than those unaffected by mental health conditions.
2 Mental health conditions often accompany
other disabilities, such as autism, and when accompanied with other structural social identities--such as race or socioeconomic status--the compounding intersection of these conditions and identities can lead to higher rates of victimization.3 Alternative and co-response models can help provide a better response to calls for service involving individuals with disabilities by replacing or pairing police officers with professionals specifically trained in de-escalation and treatment of individuals with disabilities.5 The specific training can vary significantly based on the particular disability in question. For example, an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter could co-respond to facilitate communication with a d/Deaf individual, or a mental health clinician could assist with treating an individual experiencing a mental health crisis.

Existing Programs
1 Disability Inclusion Equity Pledge (www.sanjoseca.gov) 2 Chaplain, Madeline (2023) "Inefficacy of the Crisis Intervention Team Model," SUURJ: Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 7, Article 8. Available at:
https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/suurj/vol7/iss1/8
3 ”Interaction of Autistic Individuals with Law Enforcement.“ January 24, 2024. Center for Racial and Disability Justice, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

The San José Police Department (SJPD), in partnership with the County, has historically offered two co-response programs that responded to incidents involving individuals with disabilities: the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) and the Mobile Crisis Assessment Team/Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCAT/MCRT).

Both programs involved San José police officers co-responding to psychiatric emergencies alongside County clinicians.
• PERT. PERT is a co-response program that pairs a licensed mental health clinician (employed by the County) with a police officer (employed by the City) to respond to calls involving imminent danger, safety concerns, and/or individuals in high-acuity crisis. PERT responders offer several services including crisis intervention, de-escalation, service linkage, safety planning, and referral for post crisis support. PERT clinicians are trained to work with law enforcement partners and the program is dispatched through calls to 911. The two responders—the mental health clinician and the police officer—form a team that works together on a continuous basis.

PERT ceased operating in San José in 2023 due to vacancy in the clinician position. However, two PERT clinician candidates are currently in the hiring pipeline; both are scheduled to begin onboarding and training in mid-October 2024, and will likely resume co-response activities by early 2025. PERT clinicians are County employees; the City funds one of the two PERT clinician positions. • MCAT/MCRT. MCRT is a County-operated program consisting of clinicians who respond to medium-high acuity mental health-related incidents. MCAT is a SJPD team consisting of officers with specialized training in trauma-informed care and de-escalation. Historically MCRT and MCAT were simultaneously dispatched as co-responders to calls involving psychiatric emergencies. In February 2024, MCRT and MCAT stopped regularly dispatching together to comply with updated Medi-Cal reimbursement guidance7 and national best practices for providing mental health services. MCRT continues to support MCAT and other SJPD officers upon request. SJPD officers can also refer residents to MCRT for follow-up services through 988.

Project Approach
This project was approached in three parts: (1) mapping community need and existing local response resources; (2) working with SJPD to understand both our officers’ current training and how individuals with disabilities are identified during the call-taking procedures; and (3) engaging with disability advocates and individuals with lived experience, law enforcement agencies, and other local government entities to understand successful co-response models in other jurisdictions. Throughout the process, staff also proactively identified policy alternatives that might help improve responses to calls for service involving individuals with disabilities.

Project Work Plan
Task Description Timeframe
Initial Research Staff conducted initial research on
community needs and co-response
models used in other jurisdictions
for incidents involving individuals
with a disability and existing
programs/approaches in Santa
Clara County
March-June 2024
CIT Training
Observation & SJPD
Engagement
Staff gathered information and
observed SJPD CIT training, and
engaged with SJPD call takers and
law enforcement personnel about
the Department’s existing
procedures.

June 2024
Community
Outreach Meeting
Staff conducted an outreach
meeting with 17 community
members, including community
members with disabilities
July 2024
Finalize Research Staff compiled and analyzed
gathered research
August 2024
Attend SJPD CIT
Training
Staff attended the full 40-hour CIT
training course
September 2024
Draft and Deliver
Status Report
Staff will bring an update on this
project’s status to the PSFSS
Committee
September-October 2024
Refine Findings Staff will refine project report and
gather additional information based
on Committee and community
input
November 2024
Draft and Deliver
Final Report
Staff will bring a final report to City
Council
December 2024 -
January 2025
2B. Project Status Updates & Findings
Mapping Community Need and Call for Alternative Response Programs According to the American Census Survey (ACS) of 2022, San José has about 97,863 residents with disabilities (10.1% of the total population).4 The ACS provides disaggregated data by age, gender, race, and disability type. Notably, disability is known to vary across data sets, which makes it hard to quantify the true number of people with disabilities. Inconsistent data is likely due to lack of consensus on the definition of disability, suggesting that people with disabilities are not reporting or 4 Bureau, United States Census. Explore Census Data, San Jose Disability Characteristics. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S1810?q=San%20Jose%20city,%20California%20Health&g=160XX00 US0668000&tid=ACSST5Y2022.S1810
might not have information to self-identify accurately.5 Community advocates and the County Office of Disability Affairs also caution that such surveys often under-count individuals with disabilities.

SJPD tracks 911 calls for service that involve an individual with a perceived disability. This includes calls involving individuals with perceived mental health, developmental, and/or substance use conditions. In calendar year 2023 about 5.3% of 911 calls for service involved this flag. Notably, this data only captures perceived disabilities and SJPD is continuing to refine the implementation of this relatively new procedure. It is therefore possible the number of calls involving residents with disabilities is higher.

To understand the community need around emergency response programs, staff conducted a virtual disability community engagement meeting on July 30, 2024. To prioritize accessibility, Spanish translation and interpretation, and ASL interpretation was provided. Staff also met with advocacy groups, community organizations, and government organizations including the Vista Center for the Blind, San Andreas Regional Center, Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, The Arc for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the State Council on Developmental Disability, Disability Rights California, Parents Helping Parents, the REAL Coalition, individuals with lived experience, and the County Office of Disability Affairs.

Community members and advocates shared concerns around training and education of sworn police officers in how to engage with people with physical and sensory disabilities (such as people who are d/Deaf or use a wheelchair) and not just mental or behavioral health conditions, the need for education about 988 as an alternative resource if the event is non-violent, the need for videophone devices at SJPD’s Communication Center to improve communication for individuals with hearing loss or who are d/Deaf, adequate data collection of 911 callers with disabilities, and continued specialized training for officers after initial certification. Many community members and advocates also supported prioritizing further investment and resources in alternative response and community-based programs over co-response programs, as alternative team response can create more equitable outcomes for communities of color and others disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system.

A comprehensive list of alternative response programs across jurisdictions nationwide is available in the City’s 911 Event Data Analysis Report of February 27, 2024.6 Expanded alternative response options are further addressed in Section 3 of this report.

Finding
#
Topic Description
1 Alternative
Response:

Disability
Many community members and advocates prefer
alternative response over co-response programs for
crisis events involving people with disabilities due to 5 The Center for Disease Control, for example, estimates 27% of the California population has a disability.

Disability Impacts California Infographic | CDC. (2024, September 23). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/impacts/pdfs/California_Disability.pdf. 6 911 Event Data Analysis Report, Agenda Item 4.1, Appendix C pages 1-24. improved outcomes when specialized care is provided,
particularly when law enforcement is not required for
scene safety.

Current SJPD Training and Call Taking Procedures
The SJPD currently requires all officers to attend a 40-hour training program called “Crisis Intervention Training” (CIT). This training equals or exceeds standards of CIT programs across the nation, and is designed to:

1. Create a system of ongoing support that gives law enforcement the training, cognition, information, skills, and resources needed to promote effective problem-solving and the likelihood of positive outcomes when interacting with people in behavioral or mental health crisis; and

2. Redirect mental health consumers from the judicial system to the services and support needed to stabilize their condition and reduce future contacts with law enforcement.

SJPD officers are required to attend CIT once during their career. Current SJPD Academy graduates attend CIT immediately following their Academy instruction and prior to entering field training. SJPD officers that graduated the Academy after this requirement was instituted or that lateralled from another agency have been attending the training as staffing levels allow. As of the date of this memorandum, approximately 97% of sworn police officers have completed the City’s CIT.

San José’s 23-module CIT program is based on the Memphis Model of Crisis Intervention Team training and was the first program of its kind in the State of California in 1998. It was originally developed by the City of Memphis in 1988 through partnership between the City of Memphis Police Department, Memphis Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental illness (NAMI), mental health providers, and two local universities (the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee). Similarly, San José’s program is rooted in partnership with community and was established for the purpose of developing an informed, understandable, calm, and safe approach to mental and behavior crisis. The training addresses varying topics focusing on behavioral and mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, community engagement and resources, connection with people with lived experiences, case studies, and immersive scenario-based skill building.

Topics covered include:
• Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Veterans
• Suicide
• Mental Health in adults and minors
• Alzheimer’s and Dementia
• Gun Violence Restraining Order
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Working with the Unhoused
• De-escalation and Tactical Conduct
• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
• Alternative and Co-Response Programs
• Local community mental and behavioral resources
• Stress management, wellness and support.

Ongoing CIT for sworn police officers and forums for feedback and input between police officers and people with lived experiences could increase the benefits and outcomes of CIT, continued learning, and cultivate disability community trust and relationships.

SJPD call takers go through comprehensive training that includes how to recognize and support disabled community members over the phone. Call center staff report that the training can help call takers de-escalate or resolve issues over the phone, preventing the need to dispatch officers. CIT is required for SJPD dispatchers and call takers.

Under current SJPD procedure, 911 call takers do not directly ask callers whether the caller or other individuals involved in the reported incident have a disability.

Disabilities are therefore not directly identified during the call taking process unless that information is voluntarily provided by the caller. As indicated in the previous section, call takers may note a perceived disability based on the information volunteered by the caller. Callers experiencing communication barriers, such as members of the d/Deaf community, have the option to communicate with 911 call takers through teletypewriters (TTY) and Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf (TTD).

Finding
#
Topic Description
2 Police
Department
Crisis
Intervention
Training
The San José Police Department’s (SJPD) current
Crisis Intervention Training--designed to prepare SJPD
officers, dispatchers, and call takers for interactions involving individuals with disabilities, particularly mental and behavior health conditions, and educate them
about community resources available for people in
crisis--either equals or exceeds training requirements at other large law enforcement agencies. SJPD should
continue to continuously evaluate the training to ensure it meets evolving community needs, including
alignment with City’s disability affairs framework.

Co-Response Models in Other Jurisdictions
In a recent survey led by the University of Cincinnati Center for Police Research and Policy, large municipal police agencies were assessed on prevalence and nature of police training, partnerships, and programs to support crisis response, including innovative practices in responses to people with behavioral health conditions (including mental health and substance use) and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).7 93% of agencies reported at least one type of crisis response program in their jurisdiction, 59% reported at least one police-led/co-responder program and at least one community-led program.

Staff conducted outreach to jurisdictions nationally to learn more about the practices of other agency’s co-response programs. In reviewing the data collected, City of San José’s co-response models (MCAT/MCRT, PERT) are comparable to programs in other jurisdictions, as shown in the chart below.

Co-Response Practices of other Jurisdictions
Strategy Jurisdiction Description
Co-Response Los Angeles
County
Department of
Mental Health
Los Angeles County’s Law Enforcement Teams
(LET) are co-response teams consisting of an
officer and a mental health clinician who
respond to 911 calls involving mental health
crises. These teams ensure that the individuals
in crisis receive appropriate, specialized care,
and safe transportation to the treatment
facilities.

Co-Response/
Working Group
San Francisco
Police
Department
San Francisco Police Department’s co-response
field units consist of four members, two
clinicians and two CIT trained officers, who
provide support to 911 callers in crisis. The
Police Department ensures a safe space for the
clinician to engage, and if appropriate,
determines if the clinician is clear to engage with
the individual alone. The program is also part of
a working group composed of the City Attorney,
BART Police Department, mental health
organizations, ASCEND (Autism), and others.

Working
group/CoResponse
City of San
Diego
San Diego Police Department has a working
group that addresses the needs of the disabled
community. The working group includes San
Diego Fire Department, the District Attorney’s
Office, and community groups. To respond to
calls related to persons experiencing mental
health crises, the San Diego Police Department
has licensed Psychiatric Emergency Response
Team (PERT) Clinicians paired with specific
patrol units. PERT Clinicians are able to assist
7 Examining Crisis Response: Survey Results from the Largest Municipal Police Agencies in the United States, May 2022.
https://www.informedpoliceresponses.com/_files/ugd/e7007a_3b0bd70691774f3086ccccb96dd60fb4.pdf police officers in interacting and identifying
resources to aid those with behavioral health
issues and may pose a threat to themselves or
others. This partnership allows for the officer to
ensure the situation is safe for the PERT
clinician to then begin their assessment of the
individual.

Co-Response City of
Houston/
Harris County,
Texas
Houston Police Department partners a Houston
CIT officer with a masters-level, licensed
professional clinician from the Harris (County)
Center for Mental Health and IDD. Their Crisis
Intervention Response Team (CIRT) pairs an
officer and clinician; they attend roll-call and ride
together in a patrol car; this is their highest level
of response to individuals in serious mental
health crises. CIRT units ride citywide with the
sole responsibility of responding to CIT-related
calls; they are not in the calls-for-service loop.

Co-Response City of
Columbus,
Ohio
City of Columbus Rapid Response Emergency
and Addiction Crisis Team (RREACT) partners a
multi-disciplinary team of Columbus Division of
Fire, Columbus Division of Police, and clinicians
from multiple agencies throughout Franklin
County. RREACT, led by Columbus Fire
Department was created to address barriers to
treatment and the effects of substance use
disorder has on individuals and their families. All
RREACT team members are Crisis Intervention
Team certified to respond to situations requiring
de-escalation, mental health, or addiction crisis.

CoResponse/CITCity of
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) has a
Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) that utilizes Crisis
Intervention Response Teams (CIRT). The
teams include two sworn PPD members paired
with a civilian mental health service provider.

Four CIRT teams are available citywide, Monday
through Friday from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. CIRT
teams must complete an 80-hour training course
in crisis response techniques, focusing on
identifying and de-escalating crisis situations.

CIRT teams also receive additional crisis
negotiation training.

CoResponse/CITCity of
Portland,
Oregon
All Portland Police Bureau officers receive basic
Mental Health Response Training/Crisis
Intervention Training (CIT), as well as annual
mental health refresher training. The Bureau has
a Behavioral Health Unit that coordinates
several crisis response programs, including the
Behavioral Health Response Team (BHRT) and
the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT).

BHRT is made up of an officer and mental
health clinician who work in partnership. The
team prioritizes connecting individuals with
appropriate mental health services. ECIT is
made up of volunteer patrol officers and respond
to crisis calls related to mental health. ECIT
officers receive additional training in order to
identify risks during a behavioral crisis, utilize
crisis communication techniques to help deescalate a person in crisis, and have knowledge of available community resources.

As mentioned above, PERT ceased operating in San José in 2023 due to vacancy in the clinician position. However, two PERT clinician candidates are currently in the hiring pipeline; both are scheduled to begin onboarding and training in mid-October 2024, and will likely resume co-response activities by early 2025. If operating with two clinicians, PERT would likely provide one citywide co-response team available daily from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. Additional PERT clinicians would be needed to provide coverage outside of those hours and/or expand the program’s capacity.

Finding
#
Topic Description
3 CoResponse:

Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT). PERT
pairs a licensed County clinician with a sworn SJPD
officer, and is dispatched through 911. This program
provides comparable services to co-response programs
in other jurisdictions, but currently provides limited
coverage: it could be expanded by partnering with the
County to hire additional clinicians.
2C. Additional Policy Options
In effort to improve outcomes of 911 response incidents, staff has reviewed and considered additional policy options based on best practices of other jurisdictions and community input. Additional policy options include voluntary disability disclosure programs, legislative advocacy, designation of a disability affairs coordinator within SJPD, and expanded funding to increase the availability of alternative response programs.
• Consider voluntary disclosure programs. Disability advocates are often concerned that police officers may not have adequate training to recognize various disabilities while responding to calls for service, leading to misinterpretations of behavior as non-compliance or aggression. The City of Santa Clara Police Department’s Special Needs Awareness Program (SNAP) is an innovative attempt to address this concern.8 SNAP allows individuals with disabilities to voluntarily, confidentially register and disclose their disability with the Police Department. If that individual or their associated address or vehicle license plate is subsequently involved in a 911 call for service, dispatchers can alert responding officers of relevant accommodations that may need to be considered upon arrival and/or during the incident.

The County of San Diego implements a comparable program called the “Blue Envelope Program.”
8 It differs from SNAP because it does not have a registry component; therefore, the program is voluntary and self-implemented. It was designed to enhance communication between law enforcement and community members diagnosed with a disability (such as autism spectrum disorder, dementia, anxiety or other conditions) that might require additional accommodations or awareness during a law enforcement interaction. To participate, an individual displays the Blue Envelope logo or presents a Blue Envelope upon contact with law enforcement or other community service personnel. The Blue Envelope-branded products can contain the individual’s identification, contact information, or pertinent vehicle operating documents such as the vehicle registration and proof of insurance. In addition to the envelope, other Blue Envelope-branded products can be used to signal participation in the program include lanyards, seatbelt covers, buttons, and bracelets.

Community members have provided mixed input on voluntary disclosure programs. While some community organizations and members are in support of such programs for specific disabilities (e.g. autism, sensory, Alzheimer’s, dementia), other community members and disability rights advocates caution against the unintended consequences, such as potential mistreatment of the individual if they are not a participant of the voluntary disclosure program, false sense of expectations on behalf of caregiver or individual with the disability, mistaking a person reaching for their envelope as trying to reach for a weapon (specific to Blue Envelope), and security risks concerning the collected data (specific to SNAP). Community support and adequate training with law enforcement could play a critical role in the success and benefits of such programs. City Council could direct further exploration and additional outreach to community stakeholders regarding interest in establishing a local program that meets the needs of the community. The City could also consider engaging with stakeholders to determine the feasibility of implementing a countywide disclosure program like San Diego’s.
• Monitor and advocate for state legislation implementing other disclosure programs. State legislators have proposed multiple bills in recent 8 https://www.sdsheriff.gov/community/blue-envelope
years implementing novel disability disclosure programs to improve interactions between law enforcement and individuals with disabilities. These include AB 2002 (creating a statewide “blue envelope” disclosure program)9 and SB 1285 (creating a disability identifier symbol to be placed on driver’s licenses and/or identification cards).10 The City Council could direct the City’s Intergovernmental Relations team to explore monitoring and advocating for similar legislation in future sessions.
• Designate Disability Affairs/ Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator within SJPD. Other jurisdictions of comparable size to San José have designated personnel that ensure the department’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, ongoing education and training on disability equity, inclusion, accessibility best practices, and continued engagement with the disability community and people with lived experience. Often, these roles are created in reaction to incidents. Department leadership is proactively considering and exploring such designation. Should this new assignment require the equivalent responsibilities of a full-time employee, additional funding may be needed.
• Fund additional MCAT personnel. San José Police officers assigned to MCAT receive specialized training in trauma-informed care, de-escalation, and crisis intervention. However, current MCAT capacity is limited: the existing teams provide daily coverage from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. The City Council could allocate funding for additional MCAT personnel in future City budgets.
• Continue funding TRUST team specific to San José. Based on the outcome of the City of San José-County Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) funding pilot program,
9 the City Council could consider
appropriation of ongoing funding for expanded alternative response services in future City budgets. This is described in greater detail in the next section. 2D. Next Steps and Related Efforts
• January 2025: Staff will deliver a final project report to City Council. • May 2025: SJPD will deliver a report to the PSFSS Committee on 911 calls received in 2024 with a nexus to disability (including mental health) and/or homelessness, including an update on the implementation of data-entry processes and training to appropriately “flag” these incidents. 9 Pilot program outlined in Memorandum of Agreement available at the following link:
https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=ad2a90b1-c1b3-4031-838b-9f987715cd5d

3. EXPANDING ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE FOR SELECT
911 CALLS FOR SERVICE
3A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan
Project Background
Alternative response programs provide a different approach to responding to 911 calls that do not require traditional law enforcement. These programs usually match select 911 calls with a response from trained civilian professionals—like mental health experts and social workers—who can offer specialized responses. Such responses can often help address the emergency’s root causes, preventing future crises, reducing recidivism, and promoting better long-term outcomes for both individuals and the community. Additionally, alternative response programs can reduce dispatch of sworn police officers to calls for service, allowing police officers to focus on more serious crimes and other priorities. Depending on the resources involved, alternative response programs can also be more cost effective than traditional law enforcement responses.

Alternative response programs are typically not suitable for the vast majority of 911 calls SJPD currently responds to, especially calls with a higher risk of violence.

Diverting emergency calls to alternative response programs carries some risk that an incident will become violent and result in injury to the responders or other residents.

This risk can be mitigated by the tailored selection of call criteria diverted to alternative responders, the careful screening of incoming calls, and ensuring alternative responders are properly trained in de-escalation and risk mitigation techniques.

The 911 Event Data Analysis Report (Report), presented to City Council on February 27, 2024, identified several key findings related to alternative response. First, the Report analyzed a number of 911 call types—including welfare checks, disturbances, trespassing, and suspicious circumstances—and concluded they potentially merited an alternative response. Second, the Report found that response teams for mental health events are also well-suited to respond to low-risk events involving unhoused individuals and substance abuse. Finally, the Report noted that the County currently operates a range of alternative response programs providing specialized mental health services dispatched through its 988 Call Center. City Council subsequently directed staff to collaborate with the County to identify opportunities to expand alternative responses to the types of 911 calls identified in the Report.

Concurrently, City Council issued direction through the FY 2024-2025 budget process to provide the County additional resources for its existing alternative response, allocating $450,000 to make an additional Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) available for City residents for a one-year pilot period. City Council also directed staff to examine whether the ongoing funding obtained through the City’s participation in opioid-related legal settlements would be suitable for providing multi-year funding for this effort if the one-year pilot proved successful.

Existing Programs
The City of San José does not currently operate any alternative response programs.

However, the County currently operates multiple types of mobile mental and behavioral health services, many of which are designed to offer an urgent in-person response. Most of these services are dispatched through the County’s 988 Call Center and includes the Mobile Crisis Response Team program (described in the previous Section) and the TRUST program (described below). • 988 Call Center. The 988 Call Center program is a federally-created, locally-run 3-digit 24/7 help line to connect callers with resources to address mental health, suicide prevention, and substance abuse issues. The County’s Suicide Crisis Hotline was rebranded to 988 on July 16, 2022. The local 988 Call Center is operated by the County and is staffed by 988 counselors who are trained in deescalation and resolution of mental health crises. Individuals can call 988 for assistance with situations that involve acute emotional distress, either from a long-term mental health condition, like depression, or from an event that creates emotional distress.
988 can provide short-term support and connect individuals to relevant services, such as those for mental health or substance use. In addition to providing support and resources over the phone, 988 is also the County’s portal for mobile crisis response. If a 988 counselor is unable to resolve a caller’s issues over the phone and determines that an in-person response may be appropriate, they can refer the case to one of the County’s mobile crisis response services. 988 differs operationally from 911 in one notable respect. 911 callers are routed to the call center closest to their physical location, even when they call from an out-of-area number. By contrast, 988 callers are usually routed to the call center that services the area code of the number they are calling from (for example: a 988 caller geographically located in the County with a New York City area code will be routed to New York City’s 988 call center, not the County’s 988 call center). Though callers can be transferred between 988 call centers, this feature of the 988 system can cause delays and frustration for callers.1 However, this is changing--as of September 16, 2024, individuals calling from T-Mobile or Verizon-serviced cell phones will be connected with their closest 988 call center, even if they call from an out-of-region area code.2 Additional information on the 988 Call Center is available on the County website.3
• Existing 911-988 Call Transfer Program. In early 2024, SJPD’s 911 Call Center and the County’s 988 Call Center initiated a call transfer pilot. Under the current 1 Proposed federal legislation would provide 988 similar geolocation capacity as 911. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senatebill/3444#:~:text=Committees%20(1)%20Related%20Bills%20(1)%20Summary:%20S.3444%20%E2%80%94%20 118th%20Congress
2 Vibrant Emotional Health/National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are still negotiating with AT&T to provide 988 routing by geolocation. 3 https://bhsd.santaclaracounty.gov/get-prevention-services/crisis-and-suicide-prevention/crisis-and-suicideprevention-lifeline-dial. pilot’s limited scope, 911 callers experiencing a mental health crisis that can be addressed over the phone are connected with the 988 Call Center, which is best equipped to address their needs. Calls that normally require an in-person response are not currently being transferred from 911 to 988. Calls currently being transferred include the following:
- Callers experiencing a mental health crisis and not threatening or actively attempting suicide.
- Callers experiencing a mental health crisis with no verbal or physical dispute or threats to hurt others.
- Repeat callers stating a mental health need and not currently in danger. - Parents calling for child with behavioral issues, regardless of a known mental health / development disability component. (Acting out, not going to school, trouble at school, etc.).
- Callers requesting mental health or substance abuse referrals for themselves or someone else and not currently in danger.

SJPD estimates the City currently transfers about fifty calls per month from 911 to the 988 Call Center.
• TRUST. The TRUST program is one of the County’s mobile crisis response programs. TRUST teams respond to lower acuity mental health incidents throughout the County for persons 18 years or older. TRUST’s three-person teams are composed of a first aid responder, a crisis intervention specialist, and a peer support specialist. TRUST can provide services either in-person or over the phone and can be dispatched 24/7 by the County’s 988 Call Center. More information on TRUST is available on the County’s Behavioral Health Services Department website.4
• California Systemic, Therapeutic, Assessment, Resources & Treatment (START) Program. The START program—available locally through the San Andreas Regional Center—is an evidence-based model of crisis prevention and intervention for people (ages 6+) with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. To qualify, individuals must be residents of California and receive services through the regional center. The program is designed for people who have complex bio-medical, psychological, and social needs that require an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to care. The model is founded on the principles of Positive Psychology and relies on these philosophies to develop person-centered prevention plans with the collaboration of the support system.

START has a 24/7/367 hotline that the caregiver team can access for in-person support. The responding START team member will collaborate with the support system to de-escalate the situation, with the goal of preventing the need for emergency services or law enforcement.
4 https://bhsd.santaclaracounty.gov/programs-services/community-mobile-response-teams. Additional information on TRUST can also be found in the staff analysis of 911 Call Events brought to City Council on February 27, 2024 (https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=e643d076-312e-4f9fa7cd-8d37b0b22290), as well as the February 15, 2024 Joint Special Meeting of the City of San José Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee and County of Santa Clara Public Safety and Justice Committee (https://sanjose.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1169167&GUID=A862CCA1-A36A-4917-8883- 40A487C916FF&Search=).

Project Approach
This project was approached in three separate-but-overlapping efforts: (1) initiating a collaborative dialogue with County stakeholders to identify opportunities for expanding SJPD’s existing 911 to 988 call transfer pilot; (2) collaborating with County and City stakeholders to effectuate City Council’s appropriation of $450,000 to fund an additional TRUST for City residents for a one-year period; and (3) exploring opportunities to educate City residents about the resources available from the County’s 988 Call Center.

Project Work Plan
Task Description Timeframe
Initiate City-County
Coordination
Staff initiated high-level
discussions with the County to
identify opportunities for expanding
911—988 call transfer criteria
March 2024
Continue CityCounty 911-988
Dialogue
Staff continuing coordination with
the County on expanding 911-988
call transfer criteria
April 2024 – Until Complete
Expand 988
Education for City
Residents
Staff, in coordination with 988 call
center staff, identified opportunities
to leverage City resources to
educate residents on services
available through 988
June – August 2024
Facilitate TRUST
Expansion and
Funding Transfer
Staff convened City and County
stakeholders to negotiate TRUST
expansion and funding transfer
implementation
July 2024
Complete TRUST
Funding Transfer
Agreement
Staff coordinated with County to
draft and sign a TRUST funding
transfer agreement. Staff
coordinated City Council approval
of TRUST funding agreement.

August-September 2024
Draft and Deliver
Status Report
Staff will bring an update on this
project’s status to the PSFSS
Committee
September-October 2024
Monitor TRUST Pilot
Progress and
Results
Staff will continue to monitor the
County’s hiring and fielding an
additional TRUST team funded by
the City.

October 2024 – Until
Complete
Refine Findings Staff will refine project report and
gather additional information based
on Committee input
November 2024
Draft and Deliver
Final Report
Staff will bring a final report to City
Council
December 2024 -
January 2025
3B. Project Status Updates & Findings
911-to-988 Call Transfer
In March 2024, City staff initiated collaborative dialogue with County stakeholders to identify opportunities for expanding SJPD’s existing 911 to 988 call transfer pilot.

This goal of this effort is to eventually identify additional 911 call types—based on those identified in the 911 Event Data Analysis Report —that would be best responded to by the County’s mental and behavioral health resources dispatched through its 988 Call Center.

This approach offers multiple advantages over other potential avenues for expanding alternative emergency responses in San José. First, this approach makes more efficient use of existing services instead of building new programs, allowing for much quicker implementation and greatly reduces the expense to taxpayers. Second, the County’s 988 system is already configured to provide specialized call triage and assessments and staffed with personnel to match the caller with the appropriate type of response. Finally, it leverages the County’s long history and considerable institutional expertise in administering mental and behavioral health services— expertise that would be difficult to match were the City to attempt to duplicate these services through its own proprietary programs. Transferring additional 911 call types to the County’s 988 system therefore represents one of the best opportunities to connect City residents with trained, professional mental and behavioral health specialists at no additional cost to City and County residents.

City and County staff have continued to regularly meet and correspond since March 2024 to identify a mutually agreeable path forward. County staff have been receptive to the effort and have expressed a desire to widen the discussion to include neighboring municipalities, with an ultimate goal of establishing uniform call transfer criteria for all 911 call centers in the County. City staff will continue to engage with the County to make forward progress on this issue in the coming months.

Concurrently, the City Manager’s Office and SJPD collaborated to identify specific call criteria that may eventually be suitable for transfer to the 988 Call Center. These include call types identified by the Report, including select welfare checks and trespassing calls that have a high probability of involving individuals experiencing mental health crises. These call types require County staff approval and will only be transferred if City staff confirm adequate County resources for urgent in-person responses.

Finding
#
Topic Description
4 Alternative
Response:
911-to-988
Call Transfer
Pilot
Expansion
The City should continue to coordinate with the County
to identify opportunities to expand its current 911-to988 call transfer pilot program.

Funding Additional TRUST Services
Between June and September 2024, City staff collaborated with the City Attorney’s Office and County Behavioral Health Services to effectuate City Council’s June Budget Message direction to transfer $450,000 to the County to fund an additional TRUST available for City residents for a one-year pilot period. The finalized Memorandum of Agreement between the City and the County was approved by City Council on September 10, 2024.5 The Memorandum of Agreement requires the County to identify the TRUST personnel providing this service by December 31, 2024. The Memorandum of Agreement also requires the funded TRUST team only provide services in San José and provide regular reports of TRUST call data and outcomes. Staff will continue to monitor this effort to determine if the additional TRUST team is effective in providing better outcomes for City residents.

Staff also engaged with the City Attorney’s Office, County Behavioral Health Services, and Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services to determine whether ongoing funding obtained through the City’s participation in opioid-related legal settlements6 would be suitable for providing multi-year funding for this kind of program. This funding source is not suitable at this time for the program. Settlement funds must be spent on opioid prevention and intervention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services in the community, and cannot be used to fund activities with a broader remit. County alternative response programs are not exclusively focused on opioid-related crisis response.

Finding
#
Topic Description
5 Alternative
Response:

TRUST oneyear pilot
City staff have finished creating a Memorandum of
Agreement with the County to effectuate City Council’s
allocation of $450,000 to fund a one-year TRUST pilot
expansion. Staff will continue to monitor this effort to determine if it is effective in providing expanded
alternative response services to City residents and
whether the City should consider allocating additional
funding toward this program during future budget
processes, in the context of the City’s overall fiscal
condition and City priorities.
6 Alternative
Response:

Opioid
Funding
Opioid settlement resources are not suitable to fund
existing alternative response programs.
5 https://sanjoseca.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=42216 6 More information on the City’s participation in opioid-related legal settlements is available in the City Administration’s June 2024 report to the Neighborhood Services & Education Committee, linked here:
https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13009937&GUID=01E424FB-F88B-4EA6-A268-0383981835BC City Resident Awareness of 988 Services
Finally, City staff sought opportunities to leverage City resources to support County efforts to educate residents about programs and services available through the 988 call center. To make full use of the service residents must first be aware that it’s available and understand under what circumstances it’s appropriate to call. A May 2024 City survey of over 1,200 San José adult residents found a relatively small proportion of residents are aware of the various services provided through 988. 7 Survey results are depicted in Figure 1 below.

Question: Prior to taking this survey, were you aware that you can dial 988 to connect to trained counselors and support for a mental health crisis, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse?
Figure 1: San José Resident Awareness of 988 Services
It should be noted these survey results are a point-in-time snapshot of residents’ specific knowledge of these services, and may not fully capture residents’ overall awareness of the 988 program. The County of Santa Clara continues to run a comprehensive public awareness campaign to improve resident awareness.

To augment this campaign, the City Manager’s Office began coordinating with the County of Santa Clara on public information efforts. The County has prepared educational materials about 988, including a 988 informational flyer, a 988 versus 911 flyer that helps explain when to call each service, and a social media toolkit. The City will work to distribute these materials through various channels, including the City’s social media accounts, crime prevention meetings provided through the Police Department, and other community touchpoints. To date, staff has focused on opportunities to reach residents through existing City programs, as this work currently does not have a dedicated funding source in the City budget. 7 The survey was conducted between May 21 and May 28, 2024 and consisted of 1,201 interviews taken with City residents in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Finding
#
Topic Description
7 Alternative
Response:
988
Education
The City should continue to seek opportunities to
educate residents about alternative response services
available through the County’s 988 Call Center.
3C. Additional Policy Options
Expanded alternative response programs offer two primary benefits to City residents:
(1) better outcomes for residents to emergency calls; and (2) reduced strain on SJPD resources, allowing officers to allocate additional time to higher priority crimes and community engagement. However, there are multiple additional policy options that could address one or both benefits of expanded alternative response programs. • Fund expanded 988 education and outreach for City residents. As described above, City staff determined that more could be done to educate residents about the services available through the County’s 988 Call Center.

While the County continues to resource a wide-ranging advertising and community engagement campaign to raise awareness of these services, the City could consider supplementing this campaign with targeted education and outreach to underserved populations within San José. The City could consider either conducting this outreach in-house (in partnership with the County) or transferring funding to the County to expand its ongoing campaign. If the City pursued this option, staff would further analyze existing outreach data and gather cost estimates for consideration during the FY 2025-2026 budget process.
• Support SJPD Initiatives to Effectively Employ Professional (Non-Sworn) Personnel. SJPD is currently examining a range of options to employ professional, non-sworn staff to allow sworn personnel to focus more on responses to calls for service, proactive policing of serious crimes, and community-oriented engagement. This may include expanding the numbers and/or responsibilities of SJPD’s established Community Service Officers program. While this policy option does not technically provide expanded alternative response services (Community Service Officers are not usually included in alternative response definitions because, while unarmed, they usually focus on providing support for law enforcement activities), it would reduce strain on the City’s sworn resources. Some efforts may require meetand-confer processes which could be lengthy and/or require additional resources to implement.
• Fund expanded co-response programs. If alternative response programs prove infeasible, the City could consider funding expanded co-response programs to improve emergency call outcomes for City residents. The City and County’s existing co-response program (PERT) is described in detail in Section 2 above. If directed to pursue this option, staff would work with SJPD to gather cost estimates for consideration during the FY 2025-2026 budget process.
3D. Next Steps and Related Efforts
• October 2024-Until Complete: Staff will continue to engage with the County to identify opportunities for expanding the existing 911-988 call transfer pilot.

Staff will also continue to monitor the County’s progress in hiring an additional TRUST team and will evaluate whether that pilot expansion is effective in providing better emergency response services to City residents. • January 2025: Staff will deliver a final project report to City Council.

4. EXPLORING CO-RESPONSE MODELS FOR DOMESTIC

VIOLENCE INCIDENTS
4A. Project Background, Approach, and Workplan
Project Background
Domestic violence survivors often experience significant trauma and may need support creating a safety plan and securing basic needs following a domestic violence incident. However, responding law enforcement officers may not always be best equipped to provide this support. Domestic violence survivors frequently report being fearful of law enforcement involvement1 and may not understand the criminal justice system or their rights. Additionally, police officers may not always have access to the specialized training or skills necessary to provide effective support for domestic violence survivors. There has therefore been a growing interest in providing specialized civilian responders at the scene to help support survivors and connect them with services.

However, domestic violence calls for service are not good candidates for alternative response programs. Police need to be on scene given that violent criminal activity has potentially occurred. Additionally, domestic violence calls can be dangerous for responders. Emotions are often heightened, making the situation volatile and unpredictable. Weapons are often present and can increase the risk of harm to responders. The suspected aggressor may also direct anger or frustration toward responders.

Given the high risk, some jurisdictions are exploring co-response models, which typically pair a sworn officer with a civilian advocate, social worker, mental health professional, or forensic nurse. In a similar vein, some response models are structured so that police officers respond to an incident first, secure the scene, and ensure it is safe before requesting a secondary team of specialized domestic violence responders. For the purposes of this report, both models are considered coresponse models.

Existing Programs
SJPD has specific protocols when responding to 911 events involving domestic violence. This includes use of a lethality assessment which determines if a survivor qualifies for the Domestic Violence High Risk Response Team (DV-HRRT) program in partnership with YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley (YWCA). The City contracts with YWCA to connect survivors with supportive services and provide case management.
• DV-HRRT. DV-HRRT is a partnership program between SJPD and YWCA to provide immediate support to survivors after a high-lethality incident. When an 1 https://www.thehotline.org/news/survivors-of-domestic-violence-report-feeling-less-safe-after-contactinglaw-enforcement/ officer responds to a domestic violence incident, they use a mandatory lethality assessment to evaluate the survivor’s lethality risk. The lethality assessment includes questions such as the suspect’s use and access to weapons, threats, violent acts, and personal circumstances such as unemployment and shared children. If there is a high-lethality risk to the survivor and the survivor agrees to speak with an advocate, the responding officer calls the YWCA 24-hour confidential hotline. YWCA advocates provide crisis support counseling and assist survivors with safety planning. This may entail immediate services and follow-up services that include counseling, personal advocacy, criminal advocacy, shelter, danger assessments, and external referrals. The majority of DV-HRRT services are provided to survivors over the phone; however, in-person responses are occasionally provided at the scene by a YWCA advocate. These in-person responses could be considered a co-response program but are currently very limited.
• Embedded YWCA Advocate in Family Violence Center. SJPD also contracts with YWCA to staff an embedded domestic violence advocate who works out of the Department’s Family Violence Center. Domestic violence survivors who encounter SJPD are referred to this advocate, who reaches out to survivors up to three times. This partnership facilitates follow-up with survivors as soon as possible after an incident and coordination between YWCA and SJPD on domestic violence cases. The advocate provides ongoing case management including counseling, advocacy, safety planning, and linkage to restraining order, family law, criminal law, immigration, and specialized LGBTQIA+ services. Most YWCA staff are bilingual in English and Spanish and interpretation services are utilized for other languages.
• Language Access Services. SJPD adheres to a language access plan for responses, including responses to domestic violence calls. Officers are required to provide language assistance services to people with limited English proficiency. This includes requesting an officer who is certified to provide interpretation and, if none are available, using the contracted SJPD language interpretation service.
• Community-Led Solutions to Domestic Violence. As directed by the FY 2023- 2024 Adopted Operating Budget, a request for proposals process selected an organization to engage residents on gaps in domestic violence services outside of law enforcement. The City is currently in the contract negotiation stage with the selected bidder. The consultant will prepare a final report by February-March 2025; to implement a potential program, additional resources will be needed during the FY 2025-2026 budget process.

Project Approach
This project was approached in two parts: (1) engage SJPD and YWCA to understand existing resources for domestic violence survivors and opportunities to expand services; and (2) explore domestic violence co-response models currently in use in other jurisdictions.

Project Work Plan
Task Description Timeframe
SJPD Engagement Staff engaged SJPD on current
domestic violence services and
opportunities for service
expansion.

April – September 2024
YWCA Engagement Staff engaged with YWCA on
current City-contracted services
and opportunities for service
expansion.

April – September 2024
Interviews with other
jurisdictions
Staff interviewed cities and
counties with domestic violence
co-response models.

September 2024
Draft and Deliver
Status Report
Staff will bring an update on this
project’s status to the PSFSS
Committee
October 2024
Refine Findings Staff will refine project report and
gather additional information based
on Committee input
November 2024
Draft and Deliver
Final Report
Staff will bring a final report to City
Council
December 2024 -
January 2025
4B. Project Status Updates & Findings
Co-Response Models in Other Jurisdictions
Staff interviewed six different city and county agencies to better understand types of co-response models to domestic violence incidents. The full list of jurisdictions is included in Table 1 below. All agencies primarily deploy specialized domestic violence services after officers have already responded and secured the scene.

Exceptions include when a survivor is in a safe location such as a hospital or police station. In these instances, some agencies will deploy specialized domestic violence teams as a first response.

All agencies expressed that co-response programs are valuable in getting survivors connected with resources and support. Others recognized the value of these models to facilitate evidence collection. Interviewees also expressed the benefit to sworn staff. One agency reported that officers become better equipped to communicate with someone in crisis and support domestic violence survivors after observing advocates and mental health professionals.

Some key insights from interviews include variance in how co-response teams are staffed, if programs are integrated into broader crisis response teams, and the criteria needed to dispatch a specialized domestic violence team. • Co-Response Team Staffing. Domestic Abuse Response Teams (DART) in the City of Los Angeles and the City of Houston are composed of a sworn staff member paired with a domestic violence advocate or social worker. The presence of an officer on these teams enables the initial responding police officers to leave the scene for another call. It also enables a DART officer to respond who has additional domestic violence training and awareness of supportive services. DART Houston also has teams with a forensic nurse and officer that can provide additional support and perform a medical examination for evidence at the scene.

The County of Multnomah, the City of Rochester, and the City of Austin all deploy civilian-only teams of specialized social workers, mental health experts or advocates as a secondary response. These teams coordinate with officers on the scene to determine if they need to remain onsite for safety. The City of Long Beach deploys a domestic violence detective as a secondary response to certain domestic violence incidents. This allows the survivor to get assigned to and meet their detective immediately following an incident.

All agencies interviewed except for the City of Los Angeles employ specialized civilian staff directly. A benefit to employing directly as noted by an interviewee, is that government agencies may be able to offer greater pay and benefits to staff, and more flexible hours, increasing retention and decreasing burn out.2 Agencies also cited the value of employing advocates directly in order to facilitate stronger rapport with law enforcement and City staff.

However, government-employed advocates may be required to share information with law enforcement and some survivors may be more comfortable communicating with a confidential community-based advocate. • Crisis Response. Some domestic violence response teams—such as the DART program in Houston and People in Crisis (PIC) in Rochester—also respond to broader crisis intervention calls. This may include crisis support for family members at the scene of a homicide or bystanders at the scene of a deadly event. The Rochester PIC program is the only model studied that does not operate within a police department. The PIC program responds to calls involving community members in crisis or experiencing victimization. It’s estimated that about 25% of PIC’s response are for domestic violence calls. • Dispatch Criteria. Agencies interviewed vary in how co-response teams are dispatched. The City of Long Beach and the City of Houston, for example, prioritize response based on the severity of the domestic violence incident.

Other agencies allow for more discretion by first responders to decide whether to request a co-response team. Some agencies deploy co-response teams after getting consent from the survivor; others deploy automatically to certain 2 The County of Multnomah recently moved advocacy staff from outside community-based agencies into county positions, citing pay equity and burnout concerns. calls. Staff could explore altering the City’s existing DV-HRRT program to provide more of an automatic, in-person response to high-lethality incidents.

Finding
#
Topic Description
8 Co-response:

Table 1: Jurisdictions with domestic violence co-response models interviewed for this project.

Agency Program
Name
Department
Location
Specialized
Staffing
Area Hours
County of
Multnomah
Domestic
Violence
Crisis
Response
Unit
(DVCRU)
Portland
Police
Special
Victim’s Unit
County
Advocates
Countywide Mon-Fri
7am12am; SatSun 1pm12am
City of
Houston
Domestic
Abuse
Response
Team
(DART)
Houston
Police Victim
Services
Division
City Sworn
Staff, City
Advocates,
City Forensic
Nurses
Citywide 6pm-4am
(2 hours
allocated
for followups)
City of Los
Angeles
Domestic
Abuse
Response
Team
(DART)
Los Angeles
Police
Divisions
City sworn
staff,
CommunityBased
Organization
Advocates
Citywide ThursdaySunday
(hours
vary by
division)
City of
Rochester
Person in
Crisis (PIC)
Department
of Recreation
and Human
Services
City
emergency
response
social
workers or
mental
health
professional
s
Citywide 24/7
City of
Austin
Crisis
Response
Team
Austin Police
Department
Victim
Services
Division
City mental
health social
workers
Citywide 24/7
City of
Long
Beach
Domestic
Abuse
Response
Team
(DART)
Long Beach
Police
Department
Investigations
Bureau
City police
detectives
Citywide 24/7
San José Domestic Violence Current Services
To better understand the need for domestic violence services, staff analyzed six months of data shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Domestic violence data from November 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024.

Type of Data Number of Instances
Domestic violence incidents including
misdemeanor and felony domestic
violence and domestic violence
emergency medical services
1515
YWCA DV-HRRT Over-the-Phone
Response
38 YWCA DV-HRRT In-Person Response 3
Currently, data on high-lethality incidents is directly tracked by YWCA, not SJPD.

Capturing this data requires the officer at the scene to clearly communicate a highlethality incident to the YWCA advocate and for this to be logged in their system, creating more opportunities for human error. Therefore, this data may currently underreport high-lethality incidents. Staff is exploring strategies with SJPD to increase data tracking of high-lethality incidents. This includes SJPD data management strategies to enable generation of high-lethality incident reports instead of needing to pull the number of incidents manually.

For the data analyzed, YWCA responded on scene to three domestic violence incidents during this time period. The low utilization of in-person services in the DVHRRT program may be influenced by several factors. This includes the need to coordinate SJPD officers remaining on the scene if there is a safety concern and/or survivor willingness to accept in-person services. If the suspect is at large, it is not safe for advocates to be on scene without a police officer. As discussed above, some of the other jurisdictions studied have co-response models with dedicated sworn staffing and advocacy personnel who deploy together. Some co-response models in other jurisdictions also tend to be deployed automatically in certain circumstances, without putting the onus on the survivor to ask for or accept services before speaking with an advocate.

Finding
#
Topic Description
9 Co-response:

Domestic
Violence
SJPD’s partnership with YWCA on the Domestic
Violence High Risk Response Team (DV-HRRT)
program provides an over the phone and limited in
person co-response program. These in-person services
are limited, and the program could be adjusted to
increase in-person responses.
4C. Additional Policy Options
Co-response models for domestic violence incidents offer the benefit of direct access to survivors when an incident occurs. However, each survivors’ experience is unique, and some may not be willing or physically able (in the case of severe injuries) to accept services at the time of an incident. Therefore, it is beneficial to explore additional policy options to connect domestic violence survivors with resources and improve outcomes.
• Increase Case Management Staffing. The Family Violence Center hosts an in-house YWCA advocate who connects survivors with resources such as housing, counseling, safety planning, financial aid, and connection to restraining order, family law, and immigration resources. The YWCA advocate contacts all domestic survivors within 72 hours of being referred by SJPD and attempts to connect with a survivor as many as three times if the survivor does not reply. YWCA reports a year-over-year increase in domestic violence follow ups and ongoing case management. In FY 2023-2024, the YWCA embedded advocate provided 1,764 follow ups to survivors at the Family Violence Center, a 55% increase from FY 2022-2023. While supporting ongoing case management is not a co-response model, the City Council could explore adding resources to this effort.
• Community Engagement. The Community-Led Solutions to Domestic Violence consultant is expected to report findings to City Council in FebruaryMarch 2025. The purpose of this project is to collect research and community input on community-led domestic violence services outside of law enforcement. This will entail a review of best practices as implemented by other cities or studied in relevant academic literature, development of a community needs assessment and asset mapping for domestic violence services, and an extensive community outreach process. The City Council may want to consider the findings of this report prior to proposing new funding or programs to address domestic violence.
4D. Next Steps and Related Efforts
• January 2025: Staff will deliver a final project report to City Council. • February-March 2025: Staff will deliver Community-Led Solutions to Domestic Violence final report findings to City Council.

5. CONCLUSION
This report’s primary purpose was to provide findings from three interrelated efforts exploring options for expanding alternative response and co-response programs to 911 calls for service. These three efforts build on the 911 Event Data Analysis Report and respond to a range of City Council directives provided between February and June 2024.

This report’s findings identify multiple avenues for improving City responses to 911 calls for service. Some proposals require staff to continue coordinating with the County to determine if implementation is feasible. Other proposals would require new investments of staff time and financial resources within the City Manager’s Office and/or SJPD. Given the level of effort this work entails, staff may require City Council direction (and potentially additional resources) through the annual budget process, as implementation and/or further policy work would need to be balanced against other workload, overall financial conditions, and budget priorities in the City Manager’s Office and SJPD.

Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (psfss)October 17, 2024

Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (psfss)
October 17, 2024