City outlines expansion of behavioral-health response units and concedes district-level fire response disparities

City officials updated the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee on the Community Assistance Program's behavioral health and crisis response efforts and on fire department staffing and response-time disparities.

Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer introduced the Community Assistance Program (CAP) update and said the city has created a multidisciplinary team chaired by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes to coordinate responses that include police, fire and human services.

Assistant Chief Ray Ochoa said the city is pursuing a goal of 10 crisis response (CR) teams and 9 behavioral health units (BHU). He described staffing targets and recruitment results from a November 2024 hiring event: the department reports 68% of full-time positions and 52% of part-time positions filled for the program's classifications, five BHUs available daily (averaging 23.5 hours per day) and six CR teams currently operational with varying hours. Ochoa said the city expects to reach 24/7 BHU dispatch coverage "by March 31st, 2025" and to bring more CR and BHU units online through 2025 into the first quarter of 2026 as recruits are onboarded.

Ochoa cited success stories where BHU/CR teams handled responses in lieu of police, including de-escalation, transport to assessment facilities and temporary shelter placements. He told the subcommittee the teams have seen a 172% increase in calls transferred from police communications in the first 11 months of 2024 compared with 2023 and a 136% increase in overall BHU call volume.

Councilmembers then turned to Phoenix Fire Department staffing and response-time disparities, led by Councilman Waring who highlighted that some districts show two-and-a-half times higher call volumes despite near-even population counts from recent redistricting. Fire leadership said distance traveled (road miles) and social determinants of health are major factors; staff committed to a written February packet with district-level call-type breakdowns and to exploring partnerships with public-health agencies for research into usage patterns.

Fire staff also reviewed bond-funded station plans: four stations are included in the 2024 bond (15, 7, 13 and 51) with tentative midyear targets of 2026 for Station 15, mid-2027 for Station 7, mid-2028 for Station 13 and 2029 for Station 51. Officials discussed incremental measures such as deploying additional ambulance units and temporary staging to mitigate travel-distance effects while longer-term station projects proceed.

What follows: Fire and CAP staff will provide a more detailed report in February with district-by-district call volumes and the top call types; CAP staff will continue hiring and will report back on staffing and dispatch-hour progress toward the March 31, 2025 target.