Posted on 05/24/2024
On May 21, Councilmember Price participated in a “ride-along” with members of the Mayor’s CIRCLE team. CIRCLE stands for Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement and was launched in Council District 9 in 2022.
The City of Los Angeles initiated the pilot program in Hollywood and Venice before expanding it to the Northeast Valley and South LA. The program diverts non-emergency 9-1-1 calls related to unhoused individuals to trained crisis response teams consisting of licensed mental health professionals and outreach workers with lived experience.
As part of the ride-along, the Councilmember joined a Crisis Response Team, which also conducts proactive outreach in areas with high concentrations of unhoused individuals, intervening before 9-1-1 needs to be called. The goal is to assist unhoused neighbors and connect them with resources.
Examples of incidents that are diverted to CIRCLE include well-being checks, requests for assistance, lack of clothing, noise disturbances, loitering, and syringe disposal.
The best way to access CIRCLE is to call the non-emergency police line at (877) ASK-LAPD.