County mental‑health officials outline expansion of 24/7 non‑armed crisis teams and coordination with city programs

Representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) gave a detailed verbal briefing to a Los Angeles City Council ad hoc committee on the county’s alternative crisis response system, describing expanded 24/7 mobile teams, 9‑8‑8 operations and remaining staffing and funding challenges.

Ruben Wilson, who identified himself as chief of the county’s Alternative Crisis Unit, said the county has expanded mobile response teams and now has more than 70 intervention teams that respond to crises on site. Wilson said DMH has worked over the last two years to double teams countywide, increase urgent‑care visits at crisis centers and reduce response times from multi‑hour delays to generally between 34 and 45 minutes for many incidents, though he said wait times still exceed those numbers in some cases when capacity is limited.

DMH presenters described several metrics during the briefing: a 25% increase in calls to 9‑8‑8 (county figure), deployment on roughly 25,000 calls since last year (county figure), hiring of 23 new response teams, and about 40,000 new visits to crisis centers (county figure). County staff said many calls to 9‑8‑8 (about 93 of 100) are first‑person callers and that approximately 96% of those calls are resolved safely by phone or referral. County staff also said that in a recent period DMH sent mobile teams that resulted in involuntary holds (Welfare & Institutions Code 5150/"51‑50" referrals) in roughly 50–51 cases among several thousand incidents (county figure).

Presenters emphasized coordination with city‑run non‑armed programs (named examples included UMCR and Circle in public discussion), and noted that 9‑8‑8 can transfer calls to county mobile teams or the county’s access center for further triage. DMH staff described multiple response models used in parallel: clinician‑led mobile response teams, teams that accompany law enforcement ("Smart" teams) and contracted on‑call staff who cover nights and holidays. They said there are nine county psychiatric urgent‑care centers (four within the city), crisis residential treatment options and hospital inpatient placements for higher acuity cases.

DMH officials acknowledged hiring difficulties and funding uncertainty. An agency speaker said DMH currently receives roughly "1.2 billones de dólares" annually via Medicaid reimbursement (as described in the briefing) and warned that federal budget changes could put reimbursement streams at risk. County staff said DMH uses a mix of Medi‑Cal reimbursements, state funds (including Proposition 63), and grants to finance mobile response work; county presenters noted that some reimbursable services must be provided directly or contracted through DMH to qualify for Medi‑Cal.

Committee members asked multiple questions about how dispatchers decide whether to transfer a 9‑1‑1 call to 9‑8‑8 or to a county mobile team, and about how much city‑funded programs interact with county teams. DMH officials said protocols and training for public safety dispatch (PCRs) are a work in progress, that transfer rates from 9‑1‑1 to 9‑8‑8 remain relatively low (county figure given: about 150 transfers per month from LAPD divisions), and that more outreach and clearer guidance for dispatch staff could increase appropriate transfers.

Councilmembers and public speakers praised the county’s expanded capacity but repeatedly noted the system depends on recruiting and retaining clinicians. Several speakers said public education and co‑recruitment efforts with the city could help fill hard‑to‑staff positions. County staff said they are upgrading technology, running public awareness campaigns (including transit ads), and developing memoranda of understanding with city partners to improve coordination. DMH said follow‑up calls are standard practice to connect individuals to longer‑term care.

No formal action or vote followed the verbal report; the committee later approved the motion directing city departments to study workforce strategies.