Expanding Alternative Emergency Response in Los Angeles

Project Context: 

• The Los Angeles Unarmed Model of Crisis Response (UMCR) program – a collaboration between the Office of the City Administrative Officer, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, and three contracted providers – deploys trained responders to any non-violent 911 call with a social service component, not just to mental health crises, including:
  • Indecent exposure
  • Wellbeing checks
  • Substance use
  • Homelessness 
• In 2023, the GPL began working with Los Angeles through our Alternative 911 Emergency Response Implementation Cohort  to support the program’s preparations for launch, including selecting which call types should be eligible for an alternative response and developing protocols for how 911 call takers would dispatch UMCR teams.  
• In March 2024, UMCR launched in three Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) areas and subsequently expanded to an additional three LAPD districts in the fall of 2024. 

How the GPL is Supporting:  

• Developing tools to support program launch and expansion, including a call decision tree to guide 911 call takers from the moment a call is received to its appropriate response. 
• Improving data collection and developing tools to implement data-driven performance management practices, including helping to measure how many calls are sent to UMCR and what the call outcome is. 
• Evaluating UMCR’s program as they consider citywide expansion to all 21 police districts.

Results: 

• As of January 2026, UMCR has responded to more than 18,000 911 calls for service.
• Data from the first year of UMCR operations shows 96% of responses did not require LAPD support, freeing up nearly 7,000 hours of officer patrol time.