The LAPD said this week it plans to add staffing to its specialized unit that pairs officers with mental health clinicians, who work together to try to diffuse confrontations with people in crisis, or divert some of those arrested to care.
The Mental Evaluation Unit and its SMART teams are currently able to handle about one-third of requests for service, but could handle thousands more calls each year.
"Under the Chief's approval we are seeking to expand to 50 clinicians and 84 officers," LAPD Lt. Jonathan Larson told the Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday.
According to department data, there were 22,565 calls for the SMART teams in 2022, and with current staffing, 5,816 calls, or 26%, were handled.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Along with the officers, there are 23 clinicians assigned who work for the LA County Department of Mental Health. That department told the I-Team it's working to hire more of them.
"Our department is rigorously hiring to fill these positions, which have been difficult to fill due to a national shortage in mental health clinicians," it said in a written statement.
Mayor Karen Bass said Monday she wanted to expand the availability of the LAPD's mental health units and change the way officers interact with people in crisis.
"We have taken concrete steps towards these goals but clearly as made evident over the weekend, more must be done," she said. "It is always a tragedy when Angelenos are attacked and when a life is lost."
Bass' statement followed an LAPD shooting Sunday in Tarzana, in which a woman who'd allegedly attacked several people with a metal bar was killed by officers.
Chief Michel Moore said officers sent to the scene of the attacks at Reseda and Burbank boulevards first tried to subdue 35-year-old Jessica Brown with a 40mm "less lethal" weapon.
"It had no apparent effect, and she continued to walk towards the officers with the metal bar raised above her head," Moore said.
Brown was shot and died at a hospital.
Moore said just before officers arrived, four women had been struck in the head, causing at least two to be admitted to hospitals with serious head injuries.
