Public Safety Project Implementation
On May 18, 2021, Council received the final report from the Public Safety Policy Innovation Workshop and directed staff to begin implementing high-priority projects intended to address concerns raised in Fall 2020's community conversations on public safety. This page provides updates and contact information for these priority projects.
During the February 15, 2022 Council meeting, staff presented a 6-month update on project implementation, which can be found here.
Learn More About the Ongoing Projects:
Project Description:
The purpose of this project is to conduct a needs assessment on incoming calls and outgoing responses with actionable recommendations, including providing additional emergency behavioral health and medical capacity in dispatch. Key tasks included issuing a Request for Proposals and selecting a qualified consultant, completing the needs assessment and study, and presenting results and recommendations to Council.
Status:
In August 2021, the City published an RFP and contracted Federal Engineering Inc. to conduct the full scope of work. From January to May 2022, Federal Engineering consultants completed stakeholder interviews, onsite observations, surveys, data assessment and analysis, current conditions report, and preliminary recommendations. Following the preliminary recommendations, Federal Engineering consultants completed a needs assessment and implementation plan, presented on these findings, held a data systems workshop, and reported on data systems, recommendations and implementation steps to Council.
As of now, the main focus is to recruit sufficient staff to implement these recommendations. There is ongoing effort to bring on enough staff and build capacity at the Communication Call Center.
Project Manager: William Deplitch, Police Captain, Hayward Police Department | william.deplitch@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 293-7063
Project Manager: Ryan Hamre, Battalion Chief, Hayward Fire Department | ryan.hamre@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 293-3321
Project Description and Status:
This public safety innovation project encompasses the following public safety innovation projects: the Mobile Mental Health Response Team, District Command Behavioral Health Clinician, and Behavior Health Coordinator.
The HEART pilot program has grown into a cross-departmental program between Hayward City Manager's Office, Police, and Fire Departments and Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services developed to improve access to medical, mental health, and other support services. The HEART Program aims to acheive two goals: 1) reduce the need for police officers to intervene in calls for service involving people experiencing chronic mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness; and 2) reduce reliance on emergency services for individuals needing long-term case management and follow-up services.
HEART Response Teams:
- Mobile Integrated Health Unit (MIHU) includes Hayward Fire Department Community Paramedics.
- Hayward Mobile Evaluation Team (HMET) pairing a specially trained Hayward Police Department (HPD) district command police officer with an Alameda County behavioral health clinician.
- Case Management & Mental Health Linkages Team (LINK) includes a City Mobile Mental Health Clinician and a Lead Program Assistant supervised by the Behavioral Health Coordinator.
All teams run at a full-time basis Mondays through Fridays. You can learn more about the teams at the HEART Program webpage.
Status:
The HMET team launched in June 2021 full-time and MIHU team started part-time in January 2022. The project "soft" launched on January 25, 2022 and was operational on a part-time basis. Now the program is running with the response teams on a full-time basis. Since 2021, the program reflected on it's model and made strategic shifts to ensure that the program meets it's goals. The HEART team has expanded to include 4 Community Paramedics on the MIHU team and added the Case Management & Mental Health Linkages Team (LINK) team as a third HEART team to address longer-term case management and on-going follow-up and support.
Since the "soft" launch, HMET and MIHU have responded to 2,369 calls.
To learn more about this project, head to the HEART Program webpage.
Project Manager: Amy Cole-Bloom | Amy.Cole@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 293-7048
Project Description:
This project entails expanding existing emergency and temporary shelter services for residents experiencing homelessness, including solutions for those who decline typical services, such as safe parking or a sanctioned encampment, and non-congregate options, such as the hotel annex. For each new shelter option, deploy trained outreach workers into community on a daily basis.
Status:
As part of the American Rescue Plan stimulus funding plan adopted by Council, the City increased funding and operations to the emergency shelter located at South Hayward Parish and operated by First Presbyterian Church of Hayward. The City also contributed additional funds to the Hayward Navigation Center (HNC) and created the Hayward Navigation Center Annex, which operated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a non-congregate version of the HNC located at a motel, providing temporary housing to medically fragile individuals experiencing homelessness. The HNC is operated by Bay Area Community Services (BACS), who also conducts outreach throughout Hayward to conduct coordinated entry assessments and housing problem solving for individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Finally, the City included activities in its Housing Element update to explore zoning reforms to provide greater innovation and flexibility for shelters, transitional housing and tiny homes with wraparound services on site at churches, social services agencies/nonprofits that do this work in the community and on publicly owned land.
Project Manager: Amy Cole-Bloom, Community Services Manager, Community Services Division | Amy.Cole@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 583-4201
Project Description:
This project pilots using unarmed Community Service Officers to respond to cold calls such as vehicle break-in and property damage.
Status:
The Community Service Officer (CSO) Pilot Project was launched part-time and has been operating continuously since November 2021. Under this pilot project, CSOs respond to non-violent, cold calls for service such as assignments responding to abandoned vehicles, traffic control, towing of vehicles for officers, transporting of in-custodies for officers, property crimes, and to assist with jail operations as needed. The project has identified additional opportunities for CSOs and expects to build out a comprehensive training program to properly train CSOs to address these types of responses.
Project Manager: Bryan Matthews, Deputy Chief, Hayward Police Department | Bryan.Matthews@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 293-5047
Project Description:
Through this one-time participatory budget process, community members were invited to submit and then vote on proposals for increasing community connections in their neighborhoods. The process ran from September 2021 - December 2022. The City divided Hayward into six sectors for this process. Each sector was budgetted $50,000-$70,000, based on the population and income level of the sector. In all, 12 events and projects were funded through the Hayward People’s Budget. A combined $350,000 was allocated to be made available for People’s Budget projects and events across six sectors of the City.
Status:
The City of Hayward is celebrating the accomplishments thus far of the first ever Hayward People’s Budget community building initiative and projects carried out through the effort.
Following the results of community voting, City staff members collaborated with project leads to implement their projects and vision—seven of which are complete and four in process of implementation—including a Hayward Night Market, a Sun Gallery Community Space and a Pop-Up Community Garden.
For more about Hayward People’s Budget and the projects and events that received funding, including a podcast on the program, go online here to the City of Hayward website.
Hayward People's Budget Webpage
Project Manager: Mary Thomas, Management Analyst, Office of the City Manager | Mary.Thomas@hayward-ca.gov | (510) 583-4227
