Los Angeles to Launch First Unified Call Center for Unarmed Crisis Response: Mayor Karen Bass Signs Directive to Hire More 911 Dispatchers
LOS ANGELES, California — In Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Mayor Karen Bass on October 23 joined Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and several councilmembers to sign a new executive directive to strengthen and modernize the city's 911 emergency response system. At its core is the city's first-ever unified call center for unarmed crisis response, replacing the two separate dispatch centers that currently serve the city's civilian crisis response programs.
The city's two civilian crisis response programs, CIRCLE and Unarmed Mobile Crisis Response, operate citywide but with separate dispatch centers. The mayor's office said the unified call center will streamline diversion and dispatch so 911 dispatchers can route mental-health crisis calls to the right responders faster, without deciding which of the two programs should take each call.
The directive also orders faster recruitment, hiring and retention of 911 dispatchers, with city departments to develop a coordinated staffing plan; upgrades to emergency communications technology to help dispatchers answer and process calls more quickly; and clear performance metrics to track response times, measure progress and strengthen accountability.
The mayor's office said more than 125,000 calls have been diverted from 911 to mental health and crisis response teams since 2023, and investment in civilian crisis response has tripled under Bass. Violent crime and property crime are both down, and homicides have reached a 60-year low.
"Every Angeleno deserves to know that when they call 911, someone will answer quickly and the right help will be on the way — because when an emergency happens, every second counts," Bass said at the signing. The directive requires the City Administrative Officer to report on both procurements within 30 days, with full operation of the unified call center targeted for no later than the beginning of fiscal year 2027-28.
Source: GSM·America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：洛杉矶市政厅。摄影：Brion Vibber，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Los Angeles City Hall, by Brion Vibber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
