Alissa, Godfrey, and Mike review a new city controller assessment of LAPD’s “armed-first, police-first, patrol-first” response to mental health crisis calls. Plus, what in the world is going on at LAX? The people mover is delayed to June 2026 at least, while billions in public transit investments are about to be undermined by new elevated roadways that are certain to make airport traffic worse.

If you’re hearing this on Monday — get your ballot in today or Tuesday!

The LA City Controller’s office published a comprehensive assessment of LAPD’s Mental Evaluation Unit and Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) program

There’s some troubling data: “Only 6% of the incident report narratives describe an attempt to de-escalate by the responding officers and/or SMART; 61% include no description of an attempt to de-escalate, and 33% describe no need for de-escalation”

Interestingly, LAPD would not comment on the report to the Los Angeles Times

“When it comes to LAPD mental health crisis response, LAPD requires an armed-first, police-first, patrol-first response to mental health crisis incidents,” Dinah Manning, who also is the controller’s chief of strategic initiatives, told LAist

Efforts to remove LAPD from some types of traffic stops have also stalled, although there is a set of draft recommendations from 2023

Compare these efforts to the very successful outcomes of LA’s Unarmed Model of Crisis Response, which we discussed in September: “6,700 calls were diverted from 911 dispatch and fewer than 4.1% of calls required police backup”

Karen Bass appointed a new LAFD chief: 30-year department veteran Jaime Moore

LAFD Chief Moore has his first big challenge: reports that firefighters were ordered to leave the still-smoldering Lachman Fire a week before the Palisades Fire may have started in the same place

Unrig LA spotted a big update in the mayoral race: pastor and housing justice advocate Reverend Rae Chen Huang enters the race to Bass’s left

Alissa is losing her mind about spending $1.5 billion on new roadways into the LAX horseshoe

Nick Andert made a great video about why this is such a bad idea

Meanwhile, what is happening with the LAX people mover? It was supposed to open in 2023 and is still at 95% completion

LAWA CEO John Ackerman told the LA Times that the people mover will not be open until June 2026 and may not be open in time for the World Cup

This week’s show is produced by Olive Greenspan

The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward

We’re hosting a party for all paid subscribers soon! Become a paid subscriber today at thinkforward.la and you’ll get the invite. Your support is critical to enabling us to release new episodes every week. Thank you for bringing more independent voices to California media with your paid subscriptions