LAPD's Mental Health Policing Program Praised as Model for Nation

Police interactions with people who have mental illness hit the news regularly, including a recent death on Los Angeles's Skid Row. KPCC reporter Stephanie O'Neill paid a visit to the LAPD's Mental Evaluation Unit. It's the largest mental health policing program of its kind in the nation, with 61 sworn officers and 28 clinicians from the L.A. County Department of Mental Health. The unit works to defuse thousands of situations involving mental health crises each year.