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Budget analysts outline civilian alternatives to some police roles; supervisors press for sequencing, data and pilots
Summary
The Budget & Legislative Analyst presented options to shift some non‑violent police functions to civilian or automated programs, including reallocating traffic enforcement and developing civilian responses for many homeless or mental‑health 911 calls. Supervisors pressed agencies on staffing, operational details and racial‑disparity data; public comment was strongly divided.
The Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office presented an in‑depth report on May 12 exploring whether the city can transfer some duties now performed by sworn police and sheriff staff to civilian teams, other city agencies, or automated systems. Nick Menard summarized the office’s key findings and policy options and took questions from supervisors and departments.
Menard said police traffic stops were a major source of workload and racial disparity: about 18,620 stops in 2019 (roughly 29% of traffic stops) were for equipment, registration or local ordinance violations. The BLA estimated deprioritizing enforcement of those low‑level violations could free roughly 6.25 FTE of officer time, but warned the board that the public‑safety impacts of deprioritization require further study.
The analyst also examined calls for service and civilian responses. BLA data showed roughly 109,000 calls in 2019 were related to mental health,…
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