Recommendation to receive and file report on the proposal of the Los Angeles County District Attorney to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to create and support programs for people with mental illness diverting them out of expensive jail treatment settings and into effective community-based treatment.
Harry Martinez report from the office. Mayor Robert Garcia with the recommendation received from the report on the proposal of the Los Angeles County District Attorney to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to create a support program for people with mental illnesses. This is actually a request from our district attorney, Jackie Lacey. So she had asked if we would place this on this agenda, because this issue is coming before the county supervisors and she want to ensure that the council is aware of it. So I added it onto the agenda and I believe I'm going to turn this over to our director of health, who is going to give us an update, a brief update on what the city is engaged in on this on this task force. And I believe also Deputy Chief Luna is also involved in that. Please. Good evening. Thank you. We've been working very closely. With the Department of Mental Health, with Jackie Lacey and a whole lot of others as part of their team. They are looking at setting aside $20 million. Of the what would otherwise go to a larger jail facility. For L.A. County to. Divert people with mental health into better programing. The group has. Been there's been a seven that's been convened its activities judges, law enforcement advocates, providers of service for people with mental illness, prosecutors, public defenders. All of them looking. At different alternatives. Nationally, we're finding that about 70 to 80% of inmates. Have a mental. Health or substance use disorder. We estimate that to be about 50% for Long Beach. Those diagnosed with mental illness spend on average three times longer in jail than those. Without a mental illness. 25 days compared to 7.5 days. It also costs a lot more. For the county and in Long Beach to treat people in jail instead of in the community. Because you can not use insurance dollars, either Medicaid or other to treat people within the jail. So it requires public service. 95% of the inmates with mental illness in the Los Angeles County jail have offended before and cycled through. We see the same thing in Long Beach. And it's estimated that it costs on average about a $2,000 per arrest with jail time and court time. So when people are cycling through, it gets very expensive. And what we're finding. Is that when you do implement alternatives and diversion from jail for people with mental illness, you see significant reductions in incarceration, shelter, use and hospitalizations due to mental health diversion programs. Demonstrated outcomes include up to an 89% reduction in arrests and 86% reduction in jail time. The benefit to cost ratio for some of these programs is over 30 to 1. So Mayor and the members of the city council as a result of underfunded mental health care systems across the nation state and here in our county, police officers have increasingly become the first and often only responders to people in crisis due to. Untreated mental illness. The committee's goal is to achieve our public safety mission by getting low level mental ill offenders the treatment they need while attempting to avoid court and jail three through pre-booking and post booking diversion programs. The mentally ill violent offenders will still be jailed and subject to treatment while in custody. This project will also attempt to reduce negative law enforcement contacts with the mentally ill by creating consistent mental illness training in the county of Los Angeles to respond more effectively and appropriately to individuals in crisis. So just as an example, the law enforcement portion of this committee that we're proud to serve on has identified several priorities. Number one, training. Number two, develop a resource guide for improved communication and coordination for service delivery. Increase the number of code deployed teams in the county, such as police officer and clinicians. Improve the lack of dedicated mental health care facilities, which means space, basically bed availability and space for police officers that drop off some of these mental ill clients. And of course, this will take time. And just real quick, here in Long Beach, we're way ahead of other jurisdictions, but we were always looking for ways to get better. And here at the Long Beach Police Department, we actually have four code deployed teams known as my mental evaluation teams, which started back in 1996. We also have a quality of life team, which also works with the. Clinician from L.A. County Department of Mental Health. These officers are skilled in deescalating crisis involving people with mental illness while bringing an element of understanding and compassion to these very difficult situations. And we are always working hand in hand with our health department and other city departments in a productive and innovative partnership. And we stand. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Ken. So the group that we've been working with locally is that we've been part of a broader. Summit in L.A. County. But locally we have the Health and Human Services Department, police department, fire department and the city prosecutor. And we've designed a best practice model as a result of these conversations. So we feel like we know how to do it. We're not clear on how much the 20 million would be designated for Long Beach, but we know diversion is the right thing to do for the community and for public resources. In addition, inmates from Long Beach are generally transferred to the county jail after a couple of days. So supporting change and L.A. County supports Long Beach. We plan to approach the county Department of Mental Health about potential funding options, as well as seeking other grant opportunities. We can provide additional. Information on this model as resources become. Available. And mental health. Diversion programs. Allow public safety to spend more. Time supporting community safety and reducing violent and property crimes while improving opportunities for. Success for those with. Mental illness. So we want. You all to know what we're working on and to support those efforts going on at the county level. Thank you. Thank you. And excellent work, Councilman Price. Thank you. I am very involved in collaborative courts and what I do my work. And I think that this is a welcome addition to the criminal justice system in terms of trying to rehabilitate and work with folks who can use the help. And so I want to thank you for bringing this to our attention. My question would be, are we are we to approve this item. To receive in final. Approval? Okay, then I would move to receive and file second. Okay. There's a motion and a second. Based on my long thought. Thank you. Just briefly, I wanted to thank both the district attorney, as well as your office for bringing this forward. I know that there's tremendous support here, and certainly we have an opportunity to lead on this issue, focusing on treatment rather than simply incarceration. And so I'm very thankful for that. And thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo. I would like to echo the words of my colleagues and potentially consider a friendly amendment to write a letter of support to the Board of Supervisors on this item. With the maker of the motion. Yes, accepted. Okay, so there's a friendly amendment on the item. Any public comment saying nonmembers? Please cast your vote. Motion carries nine votes. 21. 21 is a report from the City Manager and Parks and Recreation Marine with a recommendation to authorize the city manager to. Oops. Wait a minute. 21. Sorry, I went a little late. To report from the city manager with the recommendation to receive and file the fiscal year 2015 budget for the Long Beach Downtown Parking and business improvement