Today on AirTalk, we discuss alternative models for policing. Also on the show, we take a look at the growing number of COVID-19 cases in southern California; talk with listeners about how their college plans were altered (or not) by the pandemic; and more.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar Arrested Following Investigation Into Alleged ‘Pay-To-Play’ Scheme
A Los Angeles City Council member who has been under the cloud of a federal corruption investigation was arrested early Tuesday, the FBI said.
Councilman Jose Huizar was taken into custody without incident at his Boyle Heights home, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. The mayor and other city leaders have been calling for Huizar to resign since his former special assistant agreed to plead guilty in a $1 million bribery scheme involving real estate developers. The Los Angeles U.S. attorney scheduled a late-morning press conference to discuss the arrest.
Read more on this developing story here from KPCC/LAist reporter Libby Denkmann.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Aaron Mendelson, KPCC/LAist senior investigative reporter; he tweets
Oregon, New Mexico Cities Serve As Examples For How New Models Of Community Policing Might Look In LA And Nationwide
Police officers simply aren’t equipped with the training to be crisis intervention counselors as well as law enforcement officers.
It’s a point we’ve heard frequently from both advocates of police reform and members of law enforcement communities themselves during the ongoing national conversation about police brutality, defunding police and reimagining local law enforcement. And as cities like Los Angeles start to look at ways to rethink who is responding to certain 911 calls, they’re looking to other cities that have already implemented a version of an unarmed, specially trained crisis response team that can handle certain calls with behavioral or mental health components that a police officer might not be properly trained to handle.
Despite being around for 30 years, the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) unit in Oregon’s Eugene-Springfield Metro area has been in the spotlight recently as one model that a number of cities, including Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, are looking at as a successful example. CAHOOTS is overseen by White Bird Clinic in Eugene, which is not directly affiliated with the city or its police department. But if a call comes in to 911 that dispatchers determine doesn’t require an emergency response but does have a behavioral or mental health component, a medic and a crisis worker from CAHOOTS are dispatched as a team instead of police to respond to the situation.
Another city that could serve as a model is Albuquerque, New Mexico, which announced last week that it would be creating its own cabinet-level department of first responders called Albuquerque Community Safety which would consist of crisis intervention, violence prevention, homelessness and mental health experts serving alongside city police and fire/rescue as a third option for dispatchers to call in to respond to 911 calls that are still urgent but may not require a police response. Albuquerque took a step in this direction earlier this year when it announced that its municipal grounds security, not police, would partially take over responding to public inebriation calls.
Today on AirTalk, we’ll look at some of the models that other cities have implemented for responding to non-emergency situations involving homelessness, addiction, or behavioral or mental health components.
Guest:
Tim Keller, mayor of the City of Albuquerque; he tweets
Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick, causes reporter for the Register-Guard, the daily newspaper covering the Greater Eugene-Springfield, Oregon region; she has covered the CAHOOTS program and its parent organization, White Bird Clinic; she tweets
COVID-19: Latest From Gov. Gavin Newsom, How Income And Race Can Be Predictors Of Infections
The number of counties receiving technical assistance from the state due to increased coronavirus concern is down to 11 from 13 last week, Newsom said.
Los Angeles County remains on the watchlist thanks to the county's case rate per 100,000 residents, California Health And Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said. L.A. County has 171.9 positive cases per 100,000 residents — the benchmark for getting off the list is below 25 per 100,000. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have been added to the list after previously not being on the list. Ghaly described L.A. County's case rate as "very high." He said that the state plans to share this list with the public every Monday.
Newsom defended the state's decision to continue reopening, citing factors including 5.7 million residents having filed for unemployment, the inability to get preventative care, unemployment rates being at the highest rate since the Great Depression, and social health factors (such as poverty) needing to be considered. Newsom stressed that it's up to individuals whether the state needs to "toggle back" on stay-at-home orders. But, he said, being more thoughtful and following state guidelines can keep that from happening. He asked people to report restaurants that aren't following state requirements. As far as enforcement, Newsom said the state is relying on local governments for enforcement.
Today on AirTalk, we discuss the latest on COVID-19 with Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. Do you have questions? Call 866-893-5722.
With files from LAist. Read the full story here
Guest:
Peter Chin-Hong, M.D., infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center; he tweets
Seattle Moves To Wind Down “Occupied” Protest Zone
Faced with growing pressure to crack down on an “occupied” protest zone following two weekend shootings, Seattle’s mayor said Monday that officials will move to wind down the blocks-long span of city streets taken over two weeks ago.
Mayor Jenny Durkan said the violence was distracting from changes sought by thousands of peaceful protesters opposing racial inequity and police brutality. She said at a news conference that the city is working with the community to bring the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone, or CHOP, to an end and that police soon would move back into a precinct building they had largely abandoned in the area.
Durkan also vowed to address some of the protesters’ demands, including investing more in Black communities, reimagining policing in cooperation with community leaders, and pushing for accountability measures and statewide reform of police unions.
The mayor did not give an immediate timeline for clearing out the occupation but said “additional steps” would be examined if people don’t leave voluntarily. With scores of people camping in a park in the protest zone, Durkan said peaceful demonstrations could continue, but nighttime disorder had to stop.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Casey Martin, reporter with KUOW, NPR’s member station in Seattle; he tweets
Has The Shutdown Affected Your College Plans?
Most students don’t envision college as online classes done sitting on the floor of their childhood bedroom, and yet for many this is the coronavirus present, and also the foreseeable future.
Some campuses are opening in the fall, while others have committed to keeping their classes online, and that means students have a whole new set of variables to consider in choosing schools (and whether to go to school at all). As recently reported by the LA Times, online classes have had a negative effect on some community college students who struggled to learn without an in-classroom experience, or weren’t hesitant about fulfilling lab requirements virtually.
Whether you are doing community college, choosing a different school than you anticipated or foregoing school altogether, call us at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Eric Kelderman, senior reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education; he tweets