Help the City of Berkeley develop a new model of public safety that reflects the needs of our community by completing a brief online survey to inform a plan for restructuring the City of Berkeley’s approach to violence prevention, crisis intervention, policing, and community safety.

We want to know what health and safety issues you’re most concerned about and what programs and services you see as key to community safety.

Complete the survey online in English or Spanish by June 15. All responses are anonymous.

This survey is part of a larger effort to create a public safety paradigm in Berkeley that aims to continue Police Department work on violent and criminal matters and de-escalation while redirecting some funding currently spent on policing to violence prevention and diversion programs, including those targeted on domestic violence, youth outreach, mental health, crisis response, substance abuse, housing, and homeless services, and restorative justice.

This work is being guided by a task force of community stakeholders and supported by consultants from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. Components of the Reimagining Public Safety initiative passed as an omnibus package by the City Council in the summer of 2020, include:

• a pilot program to reassign non-criminal police service calls to a team consisting of trained crisis-response workers (Specialized Care Unit)
• creating a Department of Transportation to ensure a racial justice lens in enforcing parking regulations and traffic laws and in the development of transportation policy, programs and infrastructure
• audits of 9-1-1 calls and the Police Department budget

The survey is one piece of a community engagement effort that also includes small group listening sessions, stakeholder focus groups, and a citywide town hall. Sign up for email updates to be notified of future engagement opportunities.

These efforts build on Berkeley’s longstanding commitment to creating a more equitable community and support the City’s Strategic Plan goals to “champion and demonstrate social and racial equity” and to “create a resilient, safe, connected, and prepared City.”