Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive directive on Oct. 23, 2026, that merges Los Angeles’ two civilian dispatch centers into one unified call center for unarmed crisis response. The directive also tells City departments to hire more 911 dispatchers and to track response times.
So when someone calls 911 during a mental health crisis, one team will decide which civilian program should respond. Today two separate centers handle that job.
How unarmed crisis response changes
The City runs two civilian crisis programs: the Unarmed Model of Crisis Response and CIRCLE, short for Crisis Incident Response through Community-led Engagement. Each has its own dispatch center, its own contractors and its own software. According to the mayor’s announcement, 911 call takers must now decide whether a call qualifies for civilian help. Then they must pick which of the two programs gets it. The directive says that extra step costs time.
The new center replaces both. It will handle diversion and dispatch for all civilian crisis teams, which send social workers, clinicians and mental health professionals instead of police officers.
911 staffing and performance metrics
The directive also asks City departments to write a coordinated plan to recruit, hire and keep 911 dispatchers. In addition, it calls for newer communications technology so dispatchers can process calls faster. Finally, it sets performance metrics so the City can measure response times and see where service lags.
The mayor’s office says investment in civilian crisis response has tripled since 2023. It also says more than 125,000 calls have moved from 911 to mental health and crisis teams in that time. Those figures come from the mayor’s office, and the announcement does not include a cost estimate or a launch date for the new center.
What it means for residents
For most people, the 911 number stays the same. The change happens behind the scenes, after the call is answered. If the call qualifies, a civilian team can go instead of an officer, which leaves police and firefighters free for other emergencies.
Council members at the signing, including Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmember John Lee, supported the plan. Lee chairs the City’s Public Safety Committee. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the ad hoc committee on unarmed crisis response, said the City now needs infrastructure to match programs that already work. The City Council can still take up related funding and staffing items, so details may shift. For more local coverage, see our Los Angeles and California guide.
Next, watch for the staffing plan that departments must produce under the directive. It should show how many dispatchers the City wants to add and by when.