Mental health policing gets Redwood City’s approval

Clinicians and officers will respond independently to mental health crisis calls, allowing officers to leave the scene when secure. Dr. Scott Gilman, BHRS director, and Redwood City staff and council expressed an interest in seeing the program evolve to remove officers from mental health calls altogether.

“We’re trying to go into situations that law enforcement are going to have … and then try to develop a system to carve out those Redwood City calls that we can handle ourselves,” said Gilman, noting other county programs currently respond to emergency situations outside of the city.

Councilmembers were displeased with the program as presented because initial goals were to develop a framework which allowed clinicians to lead in emergency situations rather than support officers on emergency calls. Councilmembers also questioned how effective the program would be if one clinician was hired in each city to work a standard 40-hour work week.

The Redwood City Police Department receives an average of 315 calls resulting in evaluations or psychiatric emergency holds and up to 3,457 calls when accounting for medical, substance abuse and general mental health calls, said Chief Dan Mulholland. A clinician alone would be unable to respond to all the calls, he said, requiring the police department to respond to emergency calls during a clinicians off hours as it does currently.

Strongly opposed to the program, Councilmember Lissette Espinoza-Garnica lambasted the initiative, echoing sentiments shared by a dozen public speakers. Some shared appreciation for the city attempting to address policing concerns around mental health but all greatly disagreed with the proposed model and lack of community engagement during its inception.

“There are many examples of existing pilot programs that don’t even begin with police intervention and I don’t think the county, like the city, is trying to move away from policing like it should,” said Espinoza-Garnica.

A motion by Espinoza-Garnica for city staff to create an alternative program removing officer involvement unless called for backup failed. Espinoza-Garnica abstained from the final vote.

Instead, the council approved the two-year agreement with an additional requirement the city pursue an around-the-clock model regardless of whether the other cities opt to expand as well.

Redwood City had initially set aside $200,000 of General Fund dollars in the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget to pay for its portion of the program, roughly $44,000 less than what was finally proposed. City Manager Melissa Stevenson-Diaz said broadening the program would require additional budgeting but would be cheaper and quicker than developing a standalone program.

One year of the program will cumulatively cost a maximum of $876,776 and roughly $1.5 million for the full two years of the pilot. While the county will cover half of program costs, offset with Measure K funds, the cities will split the remaining approximately 50%.

The program will be independently studied by the John W. Gardner Center of Stanford University and data measuring its effectiveness will be made publicly available. Metrics to gauge success will be determined in the coming months.

Additionally, the City Council agreed to require the decided-upon metrics be sent to the Equity and Social Justice Subcommittee for review. Creation of the subcommittee was moved to the Feb. 8 meeting.

A hiring panel of individuals selected by the participating agencies will determine who will fill the new roles, though Councilwoman Diana Reddy requested the individual speak Spanish. Councilwoman Giselle Hale and Councilman Michael Smith also requested the city’s panelist be someone who deeply understands the city’s interest in equity.

“This program is an example of how our city and how our police department is reimagining itself,” said Reddy. “This isn’t what we want clearly and it isn't what I want and what I hope for but it is, what I believe, an excellent first step.”

In other business, the council postponed further discussions around the Redwood City Transit District due to time constraints during Monday’s meeting. After receiving nearly an hour and a half of public comment largely centered on proposed upgrades to Sequoia Station, the council moved the item to its Feb. 8 meeting.

Community feedback ranged in support with some speakers applauding the proposed redevelopment which would include up to 600 new homes, 225 of which below-market rate, a child care facility, public green space and family entertainment space.

Those opposed to the development noted the project would bring in an additional 1.25 million square feet of office space to the city where multiple other office-centric projects have already been approved, including the nearby Greystar development. Some also raised concerns the proposed housing would be insufficient in addressing the city’s current and new housing needs as a result of the massive office space.

Despite these concerns, many organizations endorsed the preliminary plans, including Chamber San Mateo County, Greenbelt Alliance, Housing Leadership Council and the Redwood City Downtown Business Group.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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