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Berkeley staff outline Phase 3 of Reimagining Public Safety; dispatch and staffing flagged as priorities
Summary
City staff briefed the City Council on Phase 3 of Berkeley's Reimagining Public Safety initiative, reporting progress on the Specialized Care Unit, DEI work and violence-prevention programs while highlighting funding and staffing constraints and next steps on dispatch and workload studies.
City staff presented a fall 2024 status update on Berkeley's multi-year Reimagining Public Safety initiative, saying the city is moving into Phase 3 and urging continued investment in alternative responses, equity work and technology. "Since our last update in the spring, we've continued to move forward and are now transitioning into phase 3," Carrie Arrendondo told the council as she outlined a three-principle framework of "reimagine, reinvest, and improve."
The presentation stressed coordination across departments — DEI, health and housing, public works, police and fire — and listed near-term actions including a dispatch needs assessment and a retrospective evaluation of the Specialized Care Unit (SCU). Rex Brown, the city's inaugural DEI officer, said the office will prepare an RFP "to bring in a consultant who will guide the community process for local reparations." Staff repeatedly flagged funding constraints and implementation delays: the FY25–26 budget defers some requests and the team said grant unpredictability will affect timelines. The city plans a progress update in 2025 focused on dispatch and the SCU.
