COMMUNITY SAFETY 

OVERVIEW

All Angelenos deserve safe communities but simply continuing to increase the LAPD budget, which already comprises 46% of our discretionary funds, isn’t the way we will create the safe community we all deserve. We cannot police, prosecute, and imprison our way to achieving real safety for everyone. We have tried tough-on-crime methods, again and again, all over the U.S, and they haven't worked. Systematic reviews of policing strategies show that simply increasing police presence produces only small, if any reductions in crime, with no consistent evidence of sustained safety gains. Not only has an over-reliance on the LAPD failed to increase feelings of safety, but it has disproportionately harmed Black and Brown communities. For many Angelenos, this status quo causes intergenerational trauma, degraded public health, economic extraction, dehumanization and, all too often, unnecessary deaths. What we haven’t tried is sustained investment in the social programs, infrastructure, and community-based violence interventions that have been proven to both prevent crime and create a feeling of safety for communities. 

The truth is, right now we require police to handle tasks that are outside of their area of expertise. We require sworn officers to respond to mental health calls and non-criminal calls, including those related to homelessness. Most Angelenos don’t realize that only 8% of 911 calls are actually for violent incidents, which would require armed response. We cannot continue to rely on the LAPD as a catch-all. Even the police union agrees with us; they have identified twenty-eight 911 call types that police should NOT respond to any longer. An over-reliance on police to address all societal ills leads to a less effective police department and reduces capacity for the tasks the police are equipped to address. This overreliance also increases response times and has demoralized officers as they are repeatedly put into roles and situations they aren’t prepared for. We should instead build on the successful alternative response models that have proven to be a more efficient use of resources. 

At the same time, the work of creating safe, connected communities cannot happen in isolation. Community safety and the protection of civil liberties depend on the stability of our communities. Real community safety starts with a robust safety net that provides for the well-being of all Angelenos. As reflected in our housing and economic policy platforms, ensuring access to stable housing, economic opportunity, and strong support systems is foundational to building safe, connected communities.

PREVENT HARM BY FUNDING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

Well-funded communities are the safest communities. This is common sense, but it is also borne out in the research. Safe communities begin with a commitment to the structural foundations of safety. Decades of research have shown that economic stability, dignified accessible housing, food security, good jobs that pay living wages and built environments that center people and their well-being reliably lead to safer communities. Los Angeles must not get left behind in the national conversation on creating real and lasting safety through programs, investment, and environmental design. As a Councilmember, I plan to focus on community safety by investing in young people, families and all of our community members, in each of their neighborhoods. 

The design of public space also has a proven impact on reducing crime and improving safety. When public space is poorly designed and basic services fail, we see an increase in crimes of opportunity which negatively impacts the entire community. By implementing policies that focus on lighting upgrades near high-traffic corridors, community space activation through cultural programming, and well-maintained areas through rapid graffiti removal, effective street cleaning services, and expanded outdoor commercial activity we can discourage crimes of opportunity and property crimes in our neighborhoods. 

• Faster street light repair.

  Some estimates show that it takes an average of 270 days to complete streetlight repairs through 311, leaving neighborhoods in the dark for nearly a year. As councilmember, I will introduce clear standards for city department performance, including streetlight repair within 30 days. Our failing repair timelines are partly due to the city's overall budget crisis, but we must acknowledge that it is also due to a failure to prioritize street repair in the budget. Currently only .6% of our discretionary budget is allocated to street lighting, and that just is not enough. I will advocate for a larger portion of our overall budget to go to street lighting, but I will also pursue shorter term funding to expedite repairs. Other districts in Los Angeles have already begun creating dedicated streetlight repair teams and CD 11 deserves the same. 

• Ensure community maintenance.

  Community members across Westside LA, particularly Sawtelle, frequently report trash blocking sidewalks and public corridors. Across Los Angeles, illegal dumping complaints have also surged, with city data showing a nearly 20% increase in 2024, a further 36% spike in early 2025, and continued projected increases. Instead of relying solely on residents to report problems individually through 311, my office will dedicate staff time to follow-up and coordinate with LASAN to ensure service requests are resolved quickly and effectively. 

• Fund community safety ambassadors.

  Across Los Angeles there are existing models of community-safety ambassadors. For example, the H.E.L.P.E.R Foundation, headquartered in Venice, runs a Safe Passage program where trained community members patrol routes to school, helping ensure students can get to and from class safely. Other cities have implemented night safety ambassador programs that provide visible, non-police presence in commercial corridors and public spaces, similar to the ambassador model used by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on our transit system. In CD 11, we should pilot a safety ambassador program that allows trained community members to support routes to school, monitor areas like beaches and commercial corridors, and reinforce transit stops. 

• Universal after-school and summer youth programming.

  I will fund Universal after-school and summer youth programming at all public middle schools in the district and encourage summer youth employment programs through city departments and local businesses.

EFFECTIVE CRISIS RESPONSE

Sworn LAPD officers are trained to respond to the most serious crimes and violent incidents. Right now they are often deployed to any number of non-violent situations as well. This is total misuse of our officers and a waste of resources. 

With a police department of nearly 9,000 sworn officers funded at over $3.3 billion per year (40% of the city’s general fund), clearance rates for crimes are still below 15%. That means that over 85% of reported crimes are not getting solved. As we stated earlier, the Los Angeles police union has identified twenty-eight 911 call types that police should NOT respond to any longer. If LAPD officers were able to focus on responding to violent incidents and solving crimes, we would surely see these clearance rates rise.

When we send armed LAPD officers to respond to non-violent situations it often leads to disproportionate response by officers which escalates situations that could otherwise be resolved. We see this happening in particular for people experiencing homelessness and mental health and substance abuse issues. And too often, it also leads to unnecessary use of force: an LA Times analysis showed that at least a third of incidents where officers shot someone in 2025 involved a person experiencing a behavioral crisis. Community safety means addressing crime holistically. In addition to police, we must seek opportunities for prevention and diversion and ensure that we’re only deploying LAPD to the circumstances that are an efficient use of their training. We must also provide real support to survivors of crime, and address the gaps in services, legal assistance, and long-term care that survivors face. 

• Expand the city’s new alternative crisis response programs.

  I will work to support and expand city programs that have demonstrated how new approaches to emergency situations can address safety issues without diverting police resources from preventing and solving crime. The city’s Crisis and Incident Response Through Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) and Unarmed Model of Crisis Response (UMCR) programs direct non-urgent emergency calls for issues like loitering, noise disturbances, lack of clothing, substance abuse, and well-being checks to trained response teams. These teams, including clinicians, medics, care providers, and/or trained individuals with lived experience have been shown to safely resolve 96% of their calls without the assistance of police while offering the public significant savings. For example, sending a UMCR team costs an average of $35 compared to the $85 cost of sending police officers to the same call. Ultimately, programs like UMCR “save money, save lives, and save capacity. I will also explore pathways to combine UMCR and CIRCLE into a single program that reduces duplication of efforts and allows streamlining dispatch protocols, all while maximizing citywide coverage and cost-savings. 

• Invest in community-based violence intervention programs:

  I will work to expand the city’s community-based violence intervention programs. One example is the long-standing Gang Reduction Youth Development (GRYD) program which has contributed to a major decrease in homicides in the neighborhoods where it operates. These neighborhoods saw a 45% drop in 2024 and a 27% drop in 2025. GRYD’s work includes its Prevention Program for youth 10-15 needing alternatives to gangs, its Family Case Management Program that provides pathways out of gang activity for older youth, and the Incident Response Violence Interruption Program, which works in collaboration with city outreach workers, the LAPD, and trusted community safety leaders to prevent violence before it starts, and interrupt retaliatory cycles of neighborhood violence. GRYD and similar programs provide life-changing support to youth and families, including access to mentors, therapy, and wraparound services. These programs must be expanded.

• Shift traffic enforcement authority away from police officers.

  Removing traffic stops from the purview of the LAPD is another opportunity to focus police resources on preventing and solving crime, prevent unnecessary harm to community members during traffic stops, and seek new and more effective solutions to influencing driver behavior. The city’s Department of Transportation determined in 2023 that civilian workers could effectively carry out most traffic enforcement, but progress has been bogged down by delays on additional reports. I will work to bring urgency to the need to shift traffic enforcement authority away from sworn police officers. Currently, Black and Brown Angelenos are stopped by LAPD at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts. Often this is because LAPD is engaging in an unconstitutional practice of pretextual stops. LAPD must stop this practice that has been shown to racially profile drivers of color, but removing traffic enforcement from LAPD’s purview would go one step further to protect all Angelenos from this discriminatory practice that often leads to unnecessary escalation to violence.

• Improve 911 and 988 emergency response times.

  Too often, Angelenos seeking aid in an emergency or personal crisis find themselves on hold or even transferred to a non-emergency line with a longer wait time. State law requires the city to answer 90% of calls within 15 seconds, but Los Angeles falls short of this requirement–just over half of emergency calls are answered on time. The city’s civilian emergency response call workers, Police Service Representatives (PSRs), are the front line of the first response. PSR’s are a good example of the civilian roles that the police department has seen fit to cut when the city faces a budget crisis. We could have funded these important jobs instead of giving LAPD officers, already the highest paid city employees by a significant margin, another raise. Currently our PSRs are dangerously understaffed. I will work with our PSRs and city departments to ensure that the city fills all vacancies and trains new PSRs expeditiously. We must hire sufficient PSRs to serve non-English speaking residents. I will also work to move the PSRs to a different or independent department, where they can better coordinate response across the city’s multiple crisis response departments.

• Improve police accountability:

  Regular Angelenos are very far removed from having meaningful control over LAPD programming and policies. Our City Charter is written to shield LAPD policy by granting disciplinary authority to the department itself and a commission of five mayor-appointment representatives. When a department that has been found liable for taking constituent life after life is the least democratically accountable arm of the city government, there is a massive problem. I will advocate for reforms that allow elected officials, including city council, to exercise stronger oversight over the LAPD. 

• Invest in trauma-recovery hubs.

  I will implement programs modeled on New York’s neighborhood safety and service hubs, which co-locate social services, health support, and community safety resources to serve survivors and members of our most vulnerable communities. The goal is to streamline services (legal support, counseling, housing referrals, safety planning) and reduce barriers to access for survivors. I’d explore existing city infrastructures, such as city libraries, recreation centers, and district offices, to bring these resources under a single roof. 

• Trauma-informed pathways to support services:

  In many instances, survivors of crimes seek support through the LAPD. Given that the LAPD houses victim support units that refer people to resources and advocates, it's often the first point of contact for individuals seeking respite. However when harm is perpetrated by law enforcement, survivors are left between a rock and a hard place, relying on the very entity that harmed them for support. We need to create channels for survivors, and individuals not comfortable turning to the police, to access the service they need without LAPD involvement by expanding and strengthening our survivor advocacy network. 

SAFETY NOT SURVEILLANCE 

Analogous to our reliance on the LAPD, our district's approach towards public safety has involved increased patrolling and surveillance. Under our current councilmember, public areas such as Venice Beach and Dockweiler Beach have been riddled with an increased presence of armed offices. Yet research consistently finds that simply increasing the number of police officers does not reliably reduce crime, and can instead negatively affect how safe people feel in their communities, particularly among younger residents and communities of color

We are now installing a total of 39 automatic license plate reader cameras, that cost over $450,000 of our district's discretionary funds, along key entry and exit points. Automatic License Plate Readers  (ALPRs) such as those being sourced by Flock, store the plate number, time, location and often vehicles’ characteristics in a database that law enforcement can search. Research studies of APLR implementation across different US cities obviate that ALPR expansion did NOT reduce violent crime. While ALPRs can help solve certain crimes such as auto theft and violent crimes involving vehicles (such as hit-and-runs) faster, they do not actually discourage crime. What ALPRs effectively produce is mass surveillance. Evidently, there is an active lawsuit against Flock, having been accused of violating California’s ALPR Privacy Act (passed as SB 34 in 2015) by sharing license plate data with out-of-state agencies, including police departments outside of California and federal authorities. 

At best, increased patrolling and technologies like ALPRs create an entirely false sense of safety, at their worst they threaten our civic liberties. 

• Motion to remove unnecessary Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs).

  I will introduce a City Council motion to review all ALPR cameras installed in CD11 and remove any unnecessary, or redudant, ones. Law enforcement on the Westside already used license plate reader technology prior to the installation of Flock ALPR cameras. Flock does not simply introduce more advanced technology, rather it creates a centralized database of information that is shared across cities. This expansion does not clearly add public safety value but does increase the scope of surveillance. We need to spend our public funds on interventions that actually deter crime and improve safety, not technologies that violate our civil rights under the loose pretense of making crimes faster to solve. 

• Ban contracts with companies violating privacy laws.

  I will ban the City of Los Angeles from contracting with any company that is currently accused of violating privacy, civil liberties, or state laws, including Flock Safety.

• Redirect funds to upstream violence prevention.

  I will reallocate discretionary funds previously earmarked for Flock ALPR cameras toward programs proven to reduce harm in a proactive manner as opposed to a reactionary manner. 

DEFEND THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF ALL ANGELENOS

Community safety requires a city government that protects the dignity, rights, choices, and belonging of every Angeleno. But right now our civil rights and civil  liberties are under attack. At the federal level, Los Angeles has been targeted by the Trump Administration precisely because our city represents the belief that people from every background belong here. We are also seeing rising incidents of antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, and attacks on LGBTQ+ community members. The right wing has been exploiting our differences across religion, race, and identity, to divide neighbors against one another. The safety and liberty of all marginalized groups and of all Angelenos is interconnected. Diversity is our city’s biggest strength, and we must fight to preserve it. 

Uplifting LA’s many diverse communities must be at the forefront of every facet of every city program. For this work to be meaningful, the city must begin by getting its own house in order. By strengthening the city’s Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, ensuring city staff reflect Los Angeles’ full diversity, appointing boards and commissions that represent the communities they serve, and expanding language access, we can proactively protect every resident’s civil liberties and make everyone feel confident turning to their local government for help. 

• Ensure the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department delivers results:

  LA has a Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, which has the authority to enforce the City’s Civil and Human Rights Law. In 2025, the department reviewed 2,000 complaints, conducted 140 investigations, and issued roughly $230,000 in penalties. While it’s already doing crucial work, in its current state, the department is primarily responding to complaints. 2000 complaints in a city the size of Los Angeles likely underrepresents real issues. I would push the department to surface additional cases of harm through regular equity audits of city departments and contractors, targeted testing of programs in housing, employment, and public services before complaints are filed, and partnerships with community-based organizations that ensure all residents know their rights and are comfortable reporting violations. 

• Establish an interfaith advisory council.

  In the rising polarization of our communities and the increase in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of religious discrimination, I will push for the creation of a city-level Interfaith Advisory Council composed of faith leaders that reflect the diversity of Los Angeles. This council will ensure that city facilities, programs, and employment policies respect religious holidays, prayer needs, and dietary requirements, particularly for marginalized faith communities. This council will also be expected to bring their communities into the civic process more fully.

• Defend our immigrant communities:

  Refer to our Immigrant Rights platform to read how I will stand up for our immigrant communities in LA. 

• Uplift LGBTQ+ Communities.

  Safety, dignity, and visibility for LGBTQ+ residents must be built into the fabric of city life. I will support the work of LGBTQ+ led organizations and fund programming that lifts up the LGBTQ+ presence in and contribution to our communities.I will pursue place-based investment, modeled after San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ cultural districts, dedicating funding to preserve culturally significant landmarks and spaces.I will protect LGBTQ+ residents from harassment by requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in all city facilities.

• Protect protestors’ rights.

  The right to protest is a fundamental constitutional right. We would have none of the protections or social advances we currently have without protest and direct action. As a Councilmember, I will stand with community members in the streets. I will push for stronger accountability of LAPD and our City Attorney to ensure our taxpayer dollars aren’t being used to unfairly target and crush legitimate exercises of Angelenos’ First Amendment rights. This includes requiring transparent, visible public reporting on arrests, use-of-force, and civil rights complaints during protests and passing Council resolutions that set clear policy expectations including prohibiting arrest for lawful assembly or peaceful civil disobedience, limiting use of crowd-control weapons, and mandating de-escalation training for officers at demonstrations.