Pasadena Police Propose Creation of New Non-Armed Response Team to Tackle Mental Health, Homelessness Issues

The Pasadena Police Department is recommending city officials reallocate $225,000 from its normal operating budget to fund a full-time team to provide unarmed responses to service calls involving mental health issues or problems related to homelessness, officials said.

Under the proposal, a three-person team made up of a firefighter or emergency medical technician, a social worker and a housing worker would be able to respond to calls received by the Police Department that don’t involve an apparent threat of violence or danger, said Pasadena police Cmdr. Jason Clawson.

The department has been trying out the idea on a trial basis in recent months, with great success, Clawson said. An officer was assigned to dispatch to determine which calls might be best handled by the unarmed response team, rather than uniformed officers.

“On the first day, [they] handled 12 calls for service,” he said. “Our testing shows that this is doable.

The trial run indicated such a team, the  Pasadena Outreach Response Team, or PORT, made up of a firefighter or EMT, a social worker and an outreach worker from Union Station Homeless Services, could handle roughly one call per hour, in place of regular officers.

“Ultimately, it’s believed that thousands of calls for service annually might be redirected away from the Pasadena Police Department to PORT or to some successor model,” according to a city staff report prepared on the issue ahead of budget discussions planned for Monday’s City Council meeting. 

As city officials work to put together the next year’s budget, Clawson said department officials would like to see the unarmed response team receive funding.

The city currently operates a PORT Team and a Homeless Outreach and Psychiatric Evaluation, or HOPE Team, composed of police officers and mental health clinicians.

If the plan is approved, the Police Department would team with the Pasadena Department of Public Health to create a dedicated PORT 2 Team, specifically tasked with responding to calls from the public received by the Police Department, Clawson explained. The new team would be based out of the Health Department.

Similar programs have recently emerged elsewhere in the nation, such as the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, or CAHOOTS, model in Eugene, Ore.

“Our vision is that this will reduce armed response for people suffering from mental health crises or homelessness,” Clawson said.

Pasadena police in 2020 responded to more than 5,000 service calls related to issues involving homelessnes, he said.

PORT Team members are better equipped to directly connect people in need with available services and break through barriers that may be standing in the way, from substance abuse to unwillingness to abandon a beloved pet, according to Clawson.

Additionally, in some cases, the presence of a uniformed officer may intensify the situation, rather than calm it, he said.

The program can be adjusted to better fit the community’s needs with time, officials said.

“This effort, while still in its early stages, needs to be built out in a careful and methodical manner to ensure its success, as there is no simple ‘bolt-on’ solution to achieve the desired outcome,” according to the staff report.

Related:

Police Team with Community Organizations for Homeless Outreach

City Committee to Hear About Program That Sends Unarmed EMTs, Counselors Not Police to Mental Health, Homeless Incidents