Belmont City Committee Meeting - June 18, 2026: Mental Health Initiative, ALPR Update, Chief's Report
Belmont City Committee Meeting - June 18, 2026
The meeting covered the introduction of a new mental health clinician, the Chief's quarterly report with updates on major cases, ALPR policy adjustments, drone usage, and an upcoming e-bike safety campaign. Public comments raised concerns about ALPR data sharing and transparency.
Consent Calendar
- Meeting Minutes (Item A): Approved by motion and second.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Bethon Emster (Belmont resident): Expressed support for the new mental health initiative. Raised concerns about the Flock ALPR system, citing negative media attention, a Minneapolis officer's misuse of data (150 unauthorized accesses), and the fact that over 250 agencies had accessed Belmont's data, including a sheriff's office that openly disregards California law on immigration cooperation. Requested the city revisit its ALPR policies.
- Bele Pitas (ACLU chapter member): Continued ALPR discussion, noting that Woodside restricts data access to only local sheriff and San Mateo County, with segregated servers. Urged Belmont to continue discussing ALPR. Also requested that meeting minutes include attendance of all city staff, not just committee members.
Special Presentation: Mental Health Initiative
- Chief of Police introduced Natalie Correy Espinol, a mental health clinician hired in December 2025, funded through the county's BHRS grant. She co-responds with officers to provide crisis intervention, on-scene assessment, and short-term stabilization. She averages 2-4 calls per week, with significant follow-up work connecting individuals to community resources. Committee members welcomed her and highlighted the importance of the role.
Discussion Items
- Chief's Quarterly Report (Item A):
- Case Updates: The main suspect in the O'Donnell Park homicide was indicted; all defendants were found guilty in the Mohammed homicide; and a multi-jurisdictional counterfeit ring was dismantled.
- Fiscal Year Stats: Provided, but complexity noted due to new NIVERS system.
- Training: 1,200 extra hours completed, including human trafficking training tied to Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup.
- ALPR (Automated License Plate Readers): The Chief reported aggressive audits, removal of over 300 agencies from access (less than 10% for misconduct), and a new 50-mile restriction making cameras non-discoverable outside that radius. No nationwide search setting is used. Data access requires a case number and is logged and audited. The policy was shaped by community input and later adoption.
- Drones (UAS): Eight operators handled 101 incidents (e.g., missing children, suspect search, fire situational awareness, flood mapping). Transparent flight logs are available online.
- E-Bike Safety Campaign: A video was shown outlining e-bike classifications (Class 1-3), helmet requirements, and safety rules. The department aims to focus on education in 2026, with potential regional regulations.
- Community Engagement: Highlighted Civic Day (first-ever, ran 90 minutes over), Boo Bash, and the city's centennial in 2026. Committee member applauded staff commitment.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes approved.
- Chief's report accepted; no formal action taken.
- Committee expressed support for ongoing ALPR and drone policy transparency.
- E-bike education campaign to continue as a priority.
- No further committee updates or adjournment at 3:05 PM.
Meeting Transcript
The EOC room two to and also people are available to join on Zoom. Um, Madam Clerk, may I have roll call? Uh committee member George here and committee member Vladimir here present. Thank you. Okay. Item number three, special presentations, introduction of the police department's mental health initiative. Uh good afternoon, everyone. Uh today I have the privilege of introducing our newest member to the police department. Um, she started back in December of uh 2025. She's uh been our clinician since then. Um, I'm gonna have her go ahead and stand up and kind of talk about herself for a minute. So she's yeah, okay. And then as she's coming up, I'm just gonna uh talk about her role um from uh our perspective and the dual response model and how it's kind of funded. It's funded through the county's uh BHSR BHRS grant, um, and she'll be with us uh at least in June of uh this year. So I'll give it over to Natalie. Thank you. Um yes, my name is Natalie Correy Espinol, and I serve as a mental clinician for the PD. Um my main job is to co-respond with the officers and provide crisis intervention, um, on scene assessment, and then also short-term stabilization for individuals who are experiencing behavioral health emergence. So it's a very delicate balance but a very great opportunity to meet the needs of the community. Um, and I personally love what I do. Um, I was in longer-term therapy before this, so this is a very different skill set for me. I'm learning a lot, and I'm very appreciative of all of the PD for welcoming me with a very warm welcome. I'm curious, can what is the average number of calls that you're going on? That's a great question. Um, every week can vary. Right now, what I'm seeing is on average about four calls per week, but that can windle down to two calls per week. Now it might sound like a small number, but each person and family is very delicate, right? They all need specific needs. So my job is to connect them with community resources, right? So I need to know who my core agencies are. I need to know who my immediate response is for unhealth individuals. Where can I connect them to behavioral health and medical and possibly food? So it's more than just going out on the call per se. I do a lot of the follow-up. Sometimes these individuals are um wanting to connect with me and communicate and work in a partnership, and others aren't. Um, so I take that very seriously. Um, and I will do my best to continue to provide the communication about what's happening on my end. Um, but I would say right now that's kind of where we're sitting, but like I said, it can vary. It really can. Thank you. Welcome. I just want to, you know, she mentioned that between two and four. I don't, I think that's a small snapshot. I'm glad she went through just the other backside stuff that she's done and not just a quantitative number, um, because there is a lot on on each one of those calls and stuff that may not be captured through a specific call for service that was so as time goes on, we'll hope it'll capture some more data and see how that plays out. Uh, but she's been with us since December and spent a lot of time just kind of you know, feeling getting things squared away, going out and doing working with other agencies to figure out their best practices, and so she's been a fantastic resource for us uh thus far, and we continue. You know, we're excited for the next couple of months to have her as part of our team and for the community. So I think the only thing I'd like to offer is that um I'm on the county's uh community action agency um commission and that coordinates the eight core agencies. Okay, so um, if any part of you is interested in kind of like attending a meeting and getting to know some of those leaders of you may already know some of the leaders of those agencies, but I'm happy to like connect you so just you know, right? That would be great. Thank you.
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