A few months ago, the El Cajon Police Department quietly stopped responding to certain mental health calls.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s police department in May stopped automatically sending officers when a person threatens to harm themselves and there\u2019s no apparent crime or threat to others.<\/p>\n
Our Lisa Halverstadt and Voice of San Diego intern Tessa Balc revealed that this has sometimes kept civilians from responding as well. They can\u2019t show up if there are perceived safety concerns and officers won\u2019t accompany them. This has sometimes left vulnerable callers and family members to handle a crisis on their own \u2013 and put crisis responders in challenging situations.<\/p>\n
The rationale:<\/strong> El Cajon police point to a federal appeals court ruling they believe imperils the qualified immunity that protects officers from personal liability for their actions on the job. The ruling focused on a case involving someone who was only a danger to himself and died during an encounter with Las Vegas police.<\/p>\n While the Sacramento County sheriff made headlines for instituting a similar policy earlier this year, El Cajon is the only local police department to institute a similar policy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The reaction:<\/strong> County Supervisor Joel Anderson, county officials and advocates are raising concerns. They argue that El Cajon\u2019s new policy puts its residents in danger. Anderson is urging the El Cajon City Council to hold a public discussion.<\/p>\n Read the full story.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The Learning Curve: Some Trump Cuts Restored<\/strong><\/p>\n A relatively small portion of the money President Trump has been withholding from schools is now on its way to San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s Education Department had planned to withhold roughly $50 million from San Diego County schools and another $10 million from Imperial County schools. Now, $14 million is being restored to San Diego schools. Meanwhile, Imperial is still set to get nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The big districts will benefit from this the most, writes our Jakob McWhinney. Most rural San Diego districts had virtually no money restored.\u00a0<\/p>\n And Mr. Barrera Goes to Washington: <\/strong>San Diego Unified Trustee Richard Barrera \u2014 who is also running for state superintendent \u2014 went to Washington to testify this week. Barrera testified in hearings that centered on a plan to create a national private school voucher system. Barrera has long advocated that putting more money into schools \u2014 rather than privatizing public education \u2014 is the way to make schools stronger.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read the full Learning Curve here<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Dem Majority In, County Counsel Out<\/strong><\/p>\n County supervisors gathered for a special closed-door meeting Wednesday to review County Counsel Claudia Silva\u2019s performance. Hours later, the county abruptly announced Silva had retired.<\/p>\n As The Union-Tribune reports<\/a>, the announcement came a few hours after county staff issued another special closed session agenda, this time to appoint an acting county counsel on Thursday.<\/p>\n Silva\u2019s retirement followed the ushering in of a new Democratic majority <\/a>on the county Board of Supervisors. The county issued notice of Wednesday\u2019s closed session a day earlier, shortly after incoming Supervisor Paloma Aguirre was sworn in.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter more than 31 years of distinguished service to public entities \u2014 including nearly nine years with the County of San Diego and the past three years as County Counsel \u2014 Claudia Silva has announced her retirement,\u201d the county wrote in a statement issued hours after Wednesday\u2019s closed-door meeting. \u201cAs she embarks on this well-earned next chapter, we thank her for her commitment and contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n Silva is the latest top county lawyer to leave<\/a> following the 2020 departure of longtime county counsel Thomas Montgomery. Two others held the post before Silva was appointed in July 2022.<\/p>\n The Union-Tribune reported last December that Silva received a significant retroactive pay hike<\/a> after performance reviews.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Other News\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Will Huntsberry and Andrea Sanchez-Villafa\u00f1a. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafa\u00f1a.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few months ago, the El Cajon Police Department quietly stopped responding to certain mental health calls. 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