West Hollywood’s Public Safety is Enhanced with a Mental Evaluation Team

The City of West Hollywood continues to prioritize community safety and mental health care through its innovative use of a Mental Evaluation Team (MET). The MET program reflects West Hollywood’s progressive approach to public safety, one that balances traditional law enforcement with mental health services to address the nuanced needs of its diverse community.

The MET program pairs a licensed Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinician with a specially trained Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) Deputy to respond to calls involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This co-response model aims to de-escalate situations that could otherwise lead to unnecessary arrests or use-of-force incidents. In West Hollywood, the MET program is activated for crisis calls that may involve psychiatric distress, substance use, or behavior that appears threatening but is rooted in mental illness rather than criminal intent.

The partnership between the City and LASD is part of a larger countywide effort, but West Hollywood has gone a step further by investing its own municipal funds to enhance the program’s presence and responsiveness within City boundaries and is currently the only contract city with the LASD to do so. The City’s investment enables extended MET coverage hours and prioritizes response in West Hollywood, ensuring timely intervention and care.

The effectiveness of MET programs is backed by data. Studies show that co-response teams significantly reduce arrests, hospitalizations, and use-of-force incidents in mental health crises. In West Hollywood, anecdotal evidence from residents and local service providers suggests improved outcomes and better connections to long-term care.

Moreover, the City’s MET investment complements other community-based safety programs, including its Security Ambassador program and its LASD Community Impact Team (CIT), which work collaboratively to monitor public spaces, offer outreach, and connect unhoused individuals to services. Together, these programs form an integrated response system designed to meet people where they are, physically and emotionally.

The City of West Hollywood’s use of a MET program also aligns with its longstanding commitment to LGBTQ+ equity, social justice, and harm reduction. Many of the individuals served by the MET program are members of vulnerable or marginalized populations. By responding with care and clinical expertise, the City helps protect the dignity and humanity of those in crisis.

Through the City’s MET program, the City of West Hollywood reinforces a simple but powerful belief: that compassion and public safety are not mutually exclusive, they are deeply intertwined.