I'd like to call this meeting order.

Welcome to the October 1st, 2025 Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee.

I'd like to introduce City Attorney Jennifer Vega.

Ms.

Vega, please explain the role of the public of public comment.

Mr.

Chair and Committee members, during citizen comment, members of the public may address the subcommittee for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them.

The Arizona Open Meeting Law permits the subcommittee members to listen to the comments but prohibits members from discussing or acting on the matters presented.

Members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items to be discussed.

Comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the subcommittee.

The city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations, claims, or litigation.

Thank you.

Ms.

Vega, thank you very much.

I would also like to introduce our interpreter, Elsie Duarte, who will who will provide a brief announcement.

Elsie?

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

My name is Elsie Duarte, and I will be providing Spanish interpretation during today's public safety and justice subcommittee session.

I will now take a moment to address our Spanish speaking audience.

Thank you, Elsie.

Okay, item number one.

Item one is um approval of the PSJ minutes from September 3rd, 2025.

Do I have a motion?

Move to approve.

We have a motion and a section.

All those approved say aye.

Aye.

Chair votes aye.

Passes.

Or the motion carries.

Thank you very much for that.

Now, item number two is a presentation on the success of the fire department's lockbox program and an update on the citywide expansion.

We'll welcome Assistant Chief Justin Alexander to the table.

Chief, you're all by yourself.

All eyes are on you.

Good morning, Councilman Robinson and members of the subcommittee.

Thank you for the opportunity to highlight our community.

Are we on the presentation yet?

My apologies.

I'll begin again.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilman Robinson and members of the subcommittee.

As I previously began, thank you for the opportunity to highlight our community risk reduction lockbox program.

The purpose of the lockbox program is to provide quick access to qualified residents.

And by qualified, we mean those residents who are residents of Phoenix over the age of 55 or who have mobility issues while eliminating damage to locks, doors, and windows.

To accomplish this, we go up to the homes of qualified residents, collect the key they provide, place the key in a lockbox that is attached outside their residence with the code set by our members, and register the location and code with our dispatch center so our responders have the information when they arrive to make a quick non-destructive entry.

In 2023, the lockbox program started as a pilot program in Council District One under Vice Mayor O'Brien in partnership with the Phoenix Realtors.

In January of 2025, it became a permanent program and was moved from fire prevention to the community risk reduction division.

Major changes to the program include the expansion of the program citywide and the ability for residents to register an existing lockbox, garage door code, or smart door uh knob code if a regular key was not being used.

As part of the permanent program, a dedicated platform was developed to intake and manage requests while also providing real-time updates to fire personnel conducting installations.

A map-based application enables installers to view all pending requests and complete installations at their convenience when they are in the area of for other calls.

Currently, installations for new lockbox requests are carried out throughout the week by community assistance program members, light duty truck crews, and cadets.

Meanwhile, community assistance program dispatchers process uh process registration only requests as they are received.

Personnel from fire operations and other city departments, such as neighborhood services, have access to a QR code that helps residents complete the program request form.

This resource is especially useful when staff encounter individuals during calls who may benefit from the lockbox program.

Premise Alerts entered into the computer aider dispatch system allow us to track the number of calls to address two addresses enrolled in the lockbox program and verify whether the lockbox was utilized.

This slide highlights the total number of installations since the pilot program launched in 2023.

As of two weeks ago, there were 586 completed records in the database.

Since we began promoting this as a permanent program earlier this year, we've averaged 168 requests per month.

Averaging 40 installs per month throughout the year.

Notably, in the past couple of weeks, we've nearly quadrupled the number of installs, bringing them in line with the number of requests.

The slight difference between the council district numbers on the left in this slide and the program tracking data on the right is due to four existing lockbox registrations located outside the uh Phoenix City limits, but still within the Phoenix Fire Department's response area.

This slide demonstrates our program goals.

The current program goals are to complete 500 installations for uh 2025 by the end of the year.

Continue to partner with Phoenix Realtors to provide lockboxes while seeking other sources as needed, and then continually evaluate and adjust assigned staffing to support the level installation requests we currently have and meet and to meet future needs.

Thank you for your continued support of this valuable program dedicated to improving the speed and efficiency of our responses to calls for service while minimizing damage to our residents' property.

I'd be happy to take any questions.

Chief, thank you very much.

Do any of either of my colleagues have any questions?

Connect?

I have a point when whenever you're ready.

Councilwoman Gardano, I'm sorry, what was your question?

I said I have some questions.

Other people can go first.

I could go last.

Oh, okay.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to um thank Chief Duran and the department for their partnership and commitment to this program.

Um started as a pilot project and finding resources to install the lock boxes was I know a little bit of a stretch, uh, but you always worked towards making that happen.

And I know that that is again now that it's a popular program across the city, uh, it will be something we continue to have to work on.

But again, I just am full of gratitude.

We've had a couple of different stories, uh, not just in district one, but also in district two.

I got to meet with a resident about successes where you know it in my district it was a 90-plus-year-old woman who was living alone and wanted to continue living alone, but she had some issues with falling sometimes, and so it gave her the peace of mind as well as her family, the peace of mind for her to continue living in that independent manner.

So, again, just really appreciate your tenacity and willing to keep working towards yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Gordano.

Thank you so much.

Um, so just speaking about the lockbox program.

I just had a few questions.

What specific steps has the city of Phoenix taken, or who is supposed to take these steps to ensure that the information about the lockbox program is available in Spanish?

Because I've checked and checked and checked, and this is not available for any of our elderly that speaks Spanish.

Um, who's in charge of making that happen?

Chief Duran is on its way to the um to the chair, so I'm sure he'll answer that question for you.

Good morning.

Chairman Robinson, members of the subcommittee, Councilwoman Guardado, thank you for the question.

Uh I am responsible for the translation of this information uh into Spanish here.

Um we unfortunately did not translate all the information forward-facing information to our community into Spanish.

Um, and it was something that we it was an oversight on my part here.

What I will say that we are committed to uh translating this information for our community out there so that they can have this both in English and in Spanish.

I would also say that uh we would use the the resource of our transl translation uh contract as well for other residents across the valley that we would need would like to have this service as well.

I mean, I mean the program has been around since 2023.

Have you been in charge of the program since 2023?

Chairman Robinson, members of the subcommittee, Councilwoman Guardado, yes, uh, I have been uh overseeing this and working with my team here in regards to this, and this was something that was an oversight on my part.

Uh many of our safety messaging that we put out to the community here, we always ask the first question of being able to can we put this uh in Spanish and translate for our community out there, knowing that uh 40% of our over 40% of our residents in the city of Phoenix uh are uh Hispanic.

Right, that's if you can see here, Chief, um, you know, um it this is very tally, you know, district four is a very heavily Spanish speaking group and only has 60 lob boxes, district five only has 42, district seven has 10, and district eight only has 36.

So there's very little equity in my opinion.

Like what when we talk about these programs, and I feel like it's a conversation that we've been having um for years about being equitable, about being able if we're gonna provide if this is a program that the city of Phoenix is running, or if it's a program ran out of the fire department, I I just think um this doesn't allow our seniors that speak Spanish um to be able to participate in these programs, and if you look at these numbers on attachment A, it's very tally on how we never thought about our Spanish speaking seniors, our Spanish speaking um disabled um folks um that live um in these districts.

I I just I just um I just wish um that you would have come and spoken to us about this um before.

Um, like Lori, I I know I called you um and I asked you about this, um, you know, like and I just hope that we can fix this, that I just think it's um uh very self-serving um to only some districts, which is something um that we've been battling with for years.

Um, and I you know, I just think that in the future we can, you know, and I'm gonna continue to bring this up, like Chief, you know, I I don't like having these conversations on the dais, but I was very upset to learn that none of this was in Spanish and that none of this is available um to our seniors and our disabled folks um that only speak Spanish, which also we should always be thriving um to try to talk to everyone throughout the whole city.

Um, but other than that, I think the program's great, but seeing these hiccups and seeing the equity issues and seeing how how our our Spanish speaking audience is not being represented here, it's also a huge problem for myself.

Um, but you know, hoping um, you know, I we can talk offline, Chief, and figure out how do we fix this and how do we um get out to the Latino districts that are heavily Latino um, you know, in districts four, five, seven, and eight.

Thank you.

Councilwoman, thank you for your comments.

And I uh one quick comment.

Um, but councilwoman, your points are well taken.

Uh the chief, chief, or can you explain or one of the chiefs?

Um, could you explain when this program went citywide?

Uh Chair Robinson, members of the subcommittee, uh, it went uh citywide earlier this year.

Um, I can't give you a specific date.

The way it rolled out is is as soon as we decided to make it a permanent program and move it to my department, um, and we started involving other council districts.

Um, there was no way to kind of roll it out in phases, so it just went live citywide, and that would have been um the date we put on is January of this year.

Okay, thank you very much.

And I think um Lori Bates had a question or a comment.

I have I just have a comment, Mr.

Chair, and members of the subcommittee, Councilwoman Guardado.

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things.

You know, this program did start in sort of a unique way.

So we had um the vice mayor, who I believe learned about Scottsdale's program and wanted to bring a similar program to the city of Phoenix.

Um her office worked with the fire department to identify how this could happen.

Um as she said, you know, the fire department has limited resources, but wanted to be accommodating and so found a way with um the donations from the realtors to implement the program in district one.

And then while we did have some organic additions to the program, it has been more or less in a pilot phase until just earlier this year, as Chief Alexandra was talking about.

And because it didn't roll out in a traditional way, it did fall through the cracks.

That the translation and things that we would normally do as part of a citywide program did not occur.

And so when that came to Chief Duran's attention and my attention just a few days ago, we discussed, you know, getting those materials translated immediately.

That's actually already underway.

And we will have those materials available shortly.

But we, you know, we just think that the reason that this occurred the way that it did was because of the non-traditional rollout of the program.

Um, however, we do commit to providing information in languages that are understandable to our residents, and so we want to make sure that we get those materials out as quickly as possible.

Chairman, can I say something?

Certainly.

Thank you.

Oh, well, thank you for that explanation, Laurie.

Now it all makes sense to me.

Um, thank you for that, and thank you for catching it and working on this and working on this and getting this in Spanish and hoping to work with you and working with the chief on how do we um get this out to our Spanish speaking um residents and any other districts.

Thank you.

All right, thank you very much.

Any other questions or comments by my colleagues?

Thank you very much.

Our final presentation today will be provided by assistant fire chief Ray Ochoa and CAP administrator DC Ernst, who will provide an update on the community assistance programs' hiring efforts and their expansion update.

So, DC in chief, welcome to the table.

It's all yours.

Thank you, Chairman Robertson, subcommittee members.

I'm excited to be here before you today to provide an update on the efforts that are being made to meet the goal of CAP staffing 10 crisis response units and nine behavioral health units, as well as meeting the goal of 24-7 or 24-hour seven-day a week coverage for behavioral health supervisors and the dispatch so that they can take calls from PD communications.

Today I'll be discussing our recruitment, current staffing, the transfer of calls, as well as updates on the calls for service for our behavioral health and crisis response units.

To date, in 2025, the community assistance program has successfully completed six onboarding classes.

The onboarding process includes 120 hours of classroom-based training, followed by 160 hours of in-the-field training.

Currently, we anticipate completing two additional onboarding classes before the end of the calendar year.

As a result of our recruitment and hiring efforts, we're excited to report that we have reached 93% of our staffing goals.

One of our primary goals in this investment was to establish an alternative response model for individuals experiencing mental health crisis.

Community feedback made it clear that there was a strong need for options beyond the traditional police and fire response, particularly in situations where individuals' primary needs were related to mental health and substance use.

In response, CAP has continued to collaborate with police communications, sworn officers, and fire personnel to identify where behavioral health units could serve as the sole response team.

The objective was to develop and deploy nine new behavioral health units capable of responding to 911 calls for behavioral health services.

As of June 2025, CAP has successfully met this goal of staffing nine behavioral health units and achieving 24 hours seven-day-a-week coverage.

In addition to these efforts, crisis response units continue to operate as a co-response model alongside police and fire personnel.

These units are dispatched to incidents involving traumatic incidents such as house fires, unexpected deaths, domestic violence, and child abuse investigations, among others.

CAP remains committed to expanding the crisis response capabilities.

We are actively recruiting crisis specialists to reach our goal of 10 fully staffed crisis response units.

Currently, we've achieved 60% of that goal with six crisis response units, providing 24-hour coverage five days a week and 22 hours of coverage the remaining two weeks.

We anticipate full 24-7 coverage in the first quarter of 2026.

As you are probably aware, because we've discussed it before, CAP worked with police communications as well as PDCIT division to review and revise an online training for sworn personnel and police communications in March of this year.

And we are continuing to work with our police communication division to identify how we can assist in identifying calls when they come through 911.

At this time, we have two supervisors who are embedded in police communications 41 hours a week.

This slide represents the number of calls transferred from police communications to our behavioral health dispatchers.

Comparing the first eight months of 2024 to 2025, there has been a 98% increase.

In the 417 calls transferred in August of 2025 represents the highest number recorded since the call transfer procedures were established.

This milestone highlights the continued growth and utilization of the system as well as the increased demand for coordinated behavioral health services.

This slide represents the total calls for service that our behavioral health units have responded to.

Again, in comparing the eight months, there has been an increase of 94% in our call volume for behavioral health services.

This total call volume not only represents the calls that are transferred from PDE, but also calls where we co-respond with police or fire, as well as calls that are identified by our teams as they are out in the community.

Again, August 2025 marked the highest volume of calls for service since the implementation of the behavioral health units.

This slide represents the timeline for when we were able to put the behavioral health units into service.

The first one went into service in late 2022 with a limited response area.

And as you can see, in July of 2023, we added additional units in August 2024 and February 2025, and then in June 2025, we reached our nine units.

This slide highlights that the community assistance program is successfully responding to 73% of calls for service as a singular, as a single response unit, meaning that PD and FIRE were not risk did not come on those calls.

This rate has remained consistent throughout 2025 of 73%.

For crisis response teams, in comparing the first eight months of 2024 to the first eight months of 2025, we continue to see an increase in the calls for service for crisis response teams.

That was a 5% increase.

This upward trend highlights the growing demand for crisis response services and the continued relevance of CR units in addressing crisis related incidents in our community.

Crisis response units, as I said earlier, continue to operate as co-response models in partnership with fire and police.

And this is represented in the fact that approximately 90% of the CR calls are concurrent responses with either fire, police, or both.

The community assistance program has set a goal of having a response time under 25 minutes from the time that we are dispatched.

This slide represents our call volume over the past eight months.

In August, behavioral health units respond or average response time was 20 minutes, and the crisis response units average time was 22 minutes.

It's important to note that CAP units are required to comply with all traffic laws while responding to calls.

Unlike police and fire, we do not have sirens and lights, so we do have to obviously respond to all of the traffic laws.

While there's no current national standard for response times among alternative response units, our collaboration with Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab indicates that our average response times are comparable to those observed in other jurisdictions offering similar services.

The community assistance program currently has 11 existing locations where our units are stationed at and respond out of.

Those are represented by the green stars.

We anticipate three future locations over the next coming years as fire station seven, 13, and 15 have new fire stations built for them.

We will take over residency in the current fire stations.

We are continuing our hiring efforts and we're continuing to, as we do that, increase the number of hours and availability of our crisis response teams now.

And we will continue to work with both our police and fire communications division to identify calls that can be transferred for a behavioral health response.

And I am available for any questions.

Thank you very much.

Let me go to my colleagues first.

Do you have any questions?

Vice Mayor.

Councilwoman Gardano, do you have any questions?

No questions, but thank you everyone for all of your hard work.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

I I have one real quick question.

When we look at the um the slides dealing with the response breakdown, you had two of them, which was you know great information.

I'm just more curious anything else.

When um the behavioral health health unit responds, responds with the fire with the police department, I should say.

What usually happens to the person in crisis?

I mean, just anecdotally, and I'm not looking for numbers or anything like that.

Thank you, Chair Robinson, members of the subcommittee.

Typically, if it if the officer can transfer the care to a behavioral health unit, then we will take over the care of that individual and the officer will leave the scene.

Um, and then it's just depends on what the needs of that individual are.

Our goal is to stabilize that person in the community.

So, what we assess is are they already in services somewhere and just have been disconnected for some reason?

Transportation to services tends to be a major component to people being able to get to their case managers and their clinics.

Um if they haven't been connected, our goal is to actually connect them into services, um, make sure that they have the support system in place.

Now, there are times when someone is actually a danger to themselves, they have thoughts of harm to self, and they can't make the decision to go and get services, and in those instances, we will work to do a petition to have them evaluated to ensure their safety.

Thank you very much for that.

It's uh it was an exceptional presentation.

Thank you very much for that.

But I think it's important for folks to know that you know the police and fire in the VHU unit working um collaboratively the main focuses for the person in crisis.

And so I think that's critical for folks to understand.

If there aren't any other questions or any more comments on your your part, thank you very much for an exceptional presentation.

Really happy with your success.

So items four and five are informational only.

Do either of my colleagues have questions.

Vice Mayor O'Brien.

Thank you so much, Chair.

Um, I just have a quick request for our future um Phoenix Police Department uh reports related to recruitment hiring and attrition past.

I have asked for us to have year over year attrition rates as far back as 2020.

Um, it has not been included in the report.

I went online last night to look at the report from one year ago.

Those reports are not available online.

I don't know if that's an oversight in the transition to our new website, but um, even in trying to attempt it as a just a regular public person, um, it was not available, but I would like it included in the report from 2020 going forward so that we can see how we're doing as attrition.

It's great to see where we're projected to go, but we cannot tell through from this report if we are making positive impact impacts on retaining the people that we have.

Thank you, Chair.

And I had one little comment also about the police recruiting presentation that's on that we've been presented with.

Um, it looks like we're getting about 450 applications per month on average.

So that's exceptional, truly, and significant increase over what it had been.

Um, the question I would have, and it will probably come up in the next meeting or so that I would have with the chief, is um when we're how many of those those 450, how many are we actually able to get through in a timely manner?

And I think it's something I raised um last month with the recruiting team, and I'm just more curious than anything else because I think what a lot of things are pointing to, the folks are coming in the door.

Are we able to get to them fast enough?

And if we're not able to get to them fast enough, I know some of them are dropping off and going to other agencies.

I'd like for us to be able to try to capture that and have a deeper explanation or yeah, deeper explanation or explore it, explore what more we can do.

And it may be as simple as you're requiring or requesting more detectives for background and stuff like that, so that we can process those folks in a more timely manner.

So Mr.

Chair, if I may, um to your question and the vice mayor's question.

Uh we are planning to include the 2020 to present attrition data in the next presentation.

If you would prefer us to just include it in the next report, we can do that as well.

We were just thinking it would be better to present the data first before we start regularly including it in the reports.

Um, but we can absolutely do that and are planning on doing that.

Um and we will also um be prepared to have the process timelines for the applicants in the next presentation as well.

That's a little trickier, and we're still working through that, but we think that by the time we are um at the next presentation, which is scheduled for December, that we'll be able to outline all of those timelines for the subcommittee.

Thank you very much.

I'd like to see the information just to be in the report.

I realize December you'll be able to talk about it some more, but I'd love to have it in November.

So we can do that.

Absolutely.

What month?

We are in October, sorry.

The year is going by very quickly.

So yes, thank you.

Okay.

Um last item today is a call to the public, and I know we have one registered speaker, Brady Koran.

Um, I guess it says he's virtual.

Is he on board?

Brady, if you would.

It's you the floor is yours.

Brady, can you hear us?

Brady.

You guys hear me?

Oh, now we can hear you, yes.

Perfect.

All right.

I switched headphones here.

Um, so thank you, Chairman Robinson and uh committee members.

My name is Brady Curren.

Uh, I'm the program coordinator of outreach representing Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute.

And I'm here today to advocate for a crucial initiative that will undoubtedly enhance public safety, strengthen community trust, and significantly improve interactions between Phoenix residents and our police department.

We are requesting the subcommittee's invaluable support for a 60-minute training program designed to educate Phoenix police officers on Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders.

Recent national news coverage tragically highlighting the assault on a deaf man with cerebral palsy, serves as a stark reminder of the critical need for enhanced understanding and specialized training within law enforcement.

Furthermore, the findings from the Department of Justice's investigation into our department underscores the imperative uh to proactively address issues that can lead to misinterpretations and negative outcomes in community interactions.

Barrow Neurological Institute, home to the nationally recognized Mohammed Ali Parkinson Center, an official center of excellence, stands ready as a content expert in Parkinson's disease.

Our goal is to provide crucial support for a growing population of people in the valley living with this often misunderstood disease.

Many may not realize that Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurological condition after dementia.

Its symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, slow movement, impaired balance, and cognitive impairment can easily be misinterpreted during police encounters.

Imagine a scenario where slow, unbalanced gate is mistaken for intoxication, or a hesitant, a hesitant response due to cognitive processing challenges is perceived as non-compliance.

Such misinterpretations can unintentionally lead to miscommunications, escalation in high stress situations, and ultimately deeply damaging outcomes for both officers and residents.

This proposed training isn't just about one disease, it's about building a more compassionate informed and effective police force.

Our objectives are clear.

First, we want to avoid misjudgments to equip officers with the knowledge to recognize the signs and symptoms of neurological disorders, preventing hasty and inaccurate conclusions.

Secondly, we want to ensure officer safety and community well-being by understanding these conditions.

Officers can adapt their approach, de-escalate situations more effectively, and ensure the safety of both themselves and vulnerable community members.

Third, we'd like to build trust and strengthen the community relations.

By demonstrating empathy and a deeper understanding for residents living with neurological conditions, that fosters positive relationships and builds a bridge of trust crucial for a thriving city.

And last, we'd like to reduce unnecessary costs and resources.

By avoiding misjudgments and escalations, we can reduce the need for repeat calls, unnecessary arrests, and potential legal challenges, saving valuable public resources.

Yes.

Um your three minutes are up.

Your point is well taken.

I saw the police um folks in the room taking um information, so I'm sure there'll be some type of follow-up with you.

So thank you.

Okay, yeah, thank you.

Um, my name is or my email address is my first name.last name at commonspirit.org if anybody would like to get in touch.

We have it.

Thank you very much for your time.

Okay, thank you.

And I've been advised we have one more speaker.

Yes, Chairman Diane Barker is here to speak.

Good morning, public safety committee.

I'm Diane Barker, and I've been a resident for half of my life, as I tell in here in the valley, mainly in Phoenix.

And uh, you know, I just say, hey, I'm not gonna tell you how many decades because then you would know.

But I just left the Board of Supervisors, and you know, they're concerned with many things that happen in our society, particularly with the prayers that we will cease being so violent as we are, you know, in carrying our dialogue into persuasions.

What I'd like to bring up to you, and I have read uh some of your commentary too, uh Kevin Robinson in regards to this overtime, and I'm in support of our police department generally, but they're things that go out of whack.

So why would we have which is reported a third of the police department doing OT and working such long hours as you say that can't be as ready as they can for some of the conflicts that they have to face?

And lastly, what I'd like to say, I've had an opportunity living downtown to see the way the traffic flows and also the way that we're changing in the future and some of the things that I'd like to have the police department really look at.

One thing is is that they've listed things that aren't considered alarm as noise, and believe me, I come from the rock and roll age, you know, listen to enough Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones and so forth and like rock and roll and loud music, but you know what?

We have a lot of people that are racing cars and huge loud noise, and it's very disruptive around the Roosevelt and Central area where we have a lot.

You know, we've got First Friday, we have a lot of people, pedestrians all around there.

I see police going in closed vehicles, and I think we're living in a time that we have gone so much being enclosed in a capsule of a police car or even our cars.

We're not looking around, we're not listening to what happened, and particularly we're not looking up at roofs where they're snipers.

We need to be more aware, and I'd like to have our we've got dot now that can go 20 miles an hour on a sidewalk.

Well, we have people walking on there, and Phoenix leads and Tucson and pedestrian desks.

If we don't watch out where we're going, we could end up there.

Thank you very much.

Okay, are there any requests for my colleagues for future agenda items?

There being none.

Thank you very much.

This meeting is adjourned.

The time is 10 39 a.m.

The community through some of the funding from the city of Phoenix, they will contribute towards that 30,000 seniors and veterans with full through that program.