PUBLIC SAFETY

we all deserve to feel safe when walking in our neighborhood, waiting at the bus stop, going to the park with our families, and sending our children to school. we deserve fully funded public services with well maintained streets that are quickly repaired and properly lit.

For too long we’ve relied on the police as our primary first responders, even in situations where no imminent threat to community safety exists. This approach stretches officers beyond their core role of addressing serious violent crime and forces them to adopt duties that they have not been trained to perform, while leaving communities, particularly black and brown neighborhoods, overpoliced, with crucial social needs unmet. Furthermore, relying on police to respond to nearly every social problem - from mental illness, to homelessness and gun violence - diverts limited City resources away from essential services, like housing  and employment programs that can address the root causes of crime. This is costly for the negative social ramifications as well as the financial impact to limited City resources. In Fiscal Year 2024/2025, the settlements for two cases involving LAPD response to individuals experiencing mental health crises cost the city $14 million alone in liability payments. 

I believe in a proactive and preventive approach to public safety, an approach that prioritizes investments in the unmet needs that create instability in our communities, including poverty, mental healthcare, and housing instability.

Invest in Community-Based Public Safety and Violence Prevention

At its core, public safety must be about creating thriving communities. To achieve this, we should invest in proven community based public safety strategies while addressing serious violent crime where necessary. By clearly defining when police involvement is truly needed, we can shift more resources toward the community services that prevent violence, respond to crises, and keep our neighborhoods safe.

Traditional policing is deeply reliant on punitive responses to health and social issues, frequently funneling Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities in particular into harmful cycles of incarceration and mistrust of government agencies. Research shows that reallocating resources toward proven, community-centered strategies fosters both safety and well-being far more effectively. They are also often more cost-effective than police-based responses. For example, LA’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response program diverts 6 types of 911 calls to unarmed responders at a cost that is nearly 60% less than the equivalent LAPD response. In addition to unarmed crisis response programs for mental-health and other non-violent emergencies, key policing alternatives include community violence interventions, which engage credible messengers with those most impacted by gun violence. These programs  have been shown to reduce shootings and homicides while saving cities millions of dollars.

Additionally, we have an opportunity to invest in alternatives to routine traffic enforcement to  prioritize driver and pedestrian safety while reducing racial disparities in traffic stops.  And finally, I will work to create an unarmed property crimes division that would allow property crimes  to be properly investigated and connect victims with compensation programs. 

Together, these approaches redefine public safety by investing in health, equity, and community resilience—one that prioritizes prevention, healing, and liberation over enforcement. To build and establish this work, my plan includes: 

  • I support creating a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention to centralize Community-Based Public Safety Programs. The new Department would:

    • Centralize and expand the City’s innovative public safety programs, including but not limited to the Unarmed Model of Crisis Response (UMCR), Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD), and Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement (CIRCLE) programs. 

    • Create a multi-year plan for citywide expansion of alternative response programs tied to necessary budget allocation projections, via a phased,  equity-based framework, which would prioritize areas with the greatest needs. 

    • Establish dedicated and equitable funding sources and deployment strategies for communities with higher public safety challenges.

    • Create programs to incentivize and streamline processes for social service providers to collaboratively address the need for alternate response. 

  • I support exploring options to shift traffic enforcement authority away from police officers.  Though only 8% of LA’s population is Black, over 27% of all traffic stops between 2019 and 2021 involved Black drivers. Changes to LAPD’s pretextual stop policy in 2022, which required that officers turn on body cameras and state the reason for stops, reduced the percentage of stops involving Black drivers to 22% that year. Tasking unarmed civil servants, rather than police, with handling traffic enforcement and issuing citations can further reduce racial disparities in escalated incidents and criminal enforcement. 

  • Establishing a department consisting of unarmed civil servants to assist with property crime reports and investigations and provide support to victims would ensure that all LA residents receive the support they need and deserve while allowing sworn officers to focus on more serious violent crime.

  • I support exploring opportunities to provide an unarmed response to additional types of non-emergency calls, including loitering, dumping, and other incidents that do not require an armed police response. In 2023, the Los Angeles Police Protective League identified 28 such call types that it believes should receive an unarmed response. The City should conduct its own review of 911 call types to see if it can identify additional call types that would also be best served by an unarmed response.

    I also support expanding the capacity of existing City alternative response programs, like Unarmed Model of Crisis Response, to include additional call types that fit within the scope of their work.

    Lastly, I support funding additional alternative response pilot programs to address call types that cannot be responded to by existing programs.

  • The City can increase the speed and responsiveness of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) by:

    • Increasing deployment of advanced provider response units that are staffed with nurse practitioners or physician assistants who can treat patients on the scene, administer specialized medication, and address substance abuse issues and mental health crises outside of the context of an emergency room, providing more responsive treatments options while reducing the burden on hospitals.

    • Establishing a crisis response continuum of care by increasing capacity for ambulance transports to transport patients to community service providers and not just hospitals.

    • Takin increased ownership of public health implementation through proactive programs like street medicine teams.

IMPROVE POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY:

Every Angeleno deserves to feel confident that when they call for help, the response will be swift, effective, and fair. Too often the quality of response falls short—leading to unnecessary escalation, strained trust, and wasted resources. And we’ve seen when our law enforcement has acted recklessly in the case of the 27th Street explosion in 2021 where displaced families are still not able to return to their homes because of mishandling of a large quantity of illegal fireworks that was detonated in the middle of a neighborhood. We need oversight and accountability.

To build a safer city, we must clarify the role of our law enforcement officers and ensure that emergency resources are deployed where they are needed most: prioritizing violent and property crimes, while expanding new models of response for lower-level, non-emergency incidents. This approach requires raising standards and accountability for officers through meaningful training and oversight, while also investing in unarmed responders who can effectively address issues like property crime, trespassing, and illegal dumping without escalating harm. By rethinking response systems in this way, we can deliver both greater public safety and stronger community trust.

  • I support reforms to shorten response time and increase quality of response to all emergency response calls by appropriately prioritizing violent and property crimes.

  • I support reevaluating and increasing standards for officers by expanding effective training programs and increasing officer accountability to increase response quality, prevent escalation, and prevent the use-of-force when unwarranted.

  • I strongly support establishing an unarmed program for non-emergency response cases including property crime, trespassing, dumping, and other non-emergency incidents.

  • I will work with City Controller to conduct a comprehensive audit of LAPD’s liability costs, including lawsuit payouts, misconduct settlements, and risk-management practices, to identify patterns of harm, improve accountability, and reduce the financial burden on taxpayers.

  • We have seen far too many cases of LAPD violently reacting and harming protestors. I will push for restrictions on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets that have been used on both peaceful protesters and journalists.

Increase Street and Public Transit Safety:

In addition to rethinking how the city of LA addresses traffic safety violations, we should also be rethinking the design of our streets and public transit system to encourage safety from the outset. District 9 contains some of the most dangerous streets in Los Angeles. Most of its major corridors fall within the city’s High-Injury Network, a direct result of decades of disinvestment and racist policies like redlining that cut communities off from opportunity and safe infrastructure.

We need to increase funding and prioritize the adoption of roadway infrastructure that is designed to reduce injuries and fatalities and fully implement the city’s Mobility Plan, which balances the safety needs of pedestrians and bicyclists with those of drivers.

prevent Gun Violence:

In 2024, the city saw a 14% reduction in homicides and 19% drop in shooting victims, reflecting the impact of investments in community based interventions, and prevention partnerships. For example, in communities where the Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) program, which targets the root causes of violence, exists, LAPD has reported a 40% reduction in homicides. But despite this decrease, firearms were still involved in 75% of homicides  and some communities, especially in South Los Angeles, see disproportionate rates of gun and gang related violence.

  • I support expanding gun buyback programs in the community and holding gun manufacturers, retailers, and transporters accountable for the inflow of guns into the community.

  • I support community based partnership programs that target the root causes of violence in our communities by addressing poverty, mental health services, educational access, and other systemic issues.

  • I will expand programs that invest in youth leaders and provide alternative pathways for young people, especially young men, to self actualize and make a difference in their communities.

improve Safety for Vulnerable Populations:

All of us, no matter where we come from, what we look like, how we speak, or whom we love deserve to feel safe and make a better life for ourselves and our families. The City of Los Angeles is one of the most diverse in the US. It is home to more than 1.35 million immigrants and approximately a quarter million LGBTQ+ individuals. We need to make sure immigrants who have lived here with their families and have contributed towards the success of our communities for years can live a good life and be treated with dignity and respect. Additionally, we must stand with our LGBTQ+ community and do everything in our power to defend our queer and trans neighbors. (Read more about my plan to support our immigrant and LGBTQ communities here.)

  • To better protect immigrant communities I support:

    • Strengthening implementation and enforcement of sanctuary city ordinance and defend our immigrant communities.

    • Defining and Designate all City owned structures as sanctuary structures. Establish a definition for City owned property designated as sanctuary structures aimed at providing emergency shelter and resources for families affected by ICE operations. 

    • Creating and adopting a multi-year plan to support our immigrant community centered around RepresentLA and its provision of legal counsel for immigration proceedings.

  • To address the safety needs of our LGBTQ+ residents I support:

    • Strengthening partnerships with LAUSD and LA County to provide dedicated resources and reduce barriers to workforce entry.

    • Ensuring queer affirming crisis response teams.

    • Ensuring inclusivity in all City facilities. 

Provide Support for Victims of human trafficking:

While sex trafficking is what often comes to mind for the public when human trafficking is mentioned, labor trafficking, which includes any labor or services that are performed due to force, fraud, or coercion, including debt bondage, also exists in a variety of employment sectors in the US, including agriculture, hospitality, construction, and domestic servitude. Reliable statistics on either type of human trafficking are difficult to come by, but of the nearly 22,000 victims of human trafficking identified via the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2024, over 3,600 individuals were in California. Beyond the profound psychological, emotional, physical, and financial costs to the individuals who are ensnared by traffickers, there is a substantial social cost as well. In 2022, 20% of all unhoused people in LA identified as victims of human trafficking.

increase EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Los Angeles faces an era of intensifying climate disasters—from record-breaking heat waves to wildfires and other extreme weather events—that demand a proactive, coordinated response. Too often, our most vulnerable residents, especially low-income communities with limited access to cooling infrastructure, bear the brunt of these emergencies. To keep Angelenos safe, we must invest in strong, multilingual early warning systems, ensure equitable access to cooling centers and other life-saving resources, and strengthen the city’s capacity to respond swiftly and effectively. By bolstering coordination between the Office of Climate Emergency, the Chief Heat Officer, and frontline departments, we can prepare for the challenges ahead and protect our communities before, during, and after disaster strikes. (Read more about my climate platform)

  • To keep Angelenos safe we must strengthen early warning systems including by expanding multilingual early response systems

  • I will work to ensure extreme heat mitigation hubs such as cooling centers are evenly distributed across the areas and populations most vulnerable to extreme heat (e.g. lower income areas with limited access to cooling infrastructure natural or other)

  • Wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters could create massive displacement events. Currently there are no policies in place to ensure that residents, especially tenants, can return to affordable housing after a disaster.