A balanced approach that invests in mental health support, youth programming, social services, and appropriate resources for our police and fire departments

Adena strongly believes all of us should feel safe walking through our neighborhoods, participating in our nightlife, and living and working in our homes and businesses. That’s not the case right now in Berkeley. Adena herself has been robbed in her neighborhood in South Berkeley. (Check out her story here.)

She also knows the solutions are complex and limiting ourselves to polarizing pro-police or anti-police positions will lead to paralysis, not progress. Adena recently did ride-alongs with Berkeley police and Berkeley fire, as well as a sit-along with dispatch. She witnessed officers and firefighters doing their jobs in a public safety system that now is called upon to provide social services and mental health services. We must all work together to solve these complex problems.

• Full Steam Ahead on Reimagining Public Safety. Adena is committed to the full and fast implementation of the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Plan – a balanced, transformative, and equitable approach to community-centered safety. Adena will also work to improve the plan and fill gaps to keep all Berkeleyans safe:

  • Expand the Special Care Unit (SCU) / Mobile Crisis Teams service hours to 24/7. These programs provide a response without police involvement for people experiencing a non-violent crisis. They also free up police resources to focus on violent crime. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, the SCU team is available only from 6AM to 4PM. Crises do not happen on a schedule. These services should be available 24/7.

  • Increase access to mental health services. Adena will work to educate the public on available services and resources, including removing disability and language barriers to hotlines and informational materials. She also supports efforts to destigmatize mental health crises, both to encourage people to seek help and to decrease fear among those who encounter someone in crisis. 

  • Increase youth programming. Adena knows youth need safe spaces, access to resources, and activities to keep them off the street and out of trouble, especially when their parents are at work or otherwise not at home. She will focus on expanding youth sports, internship programs, and innovative organizations like Youth Spirit Artworks – an Alameda County non-profit that serves transitional-age ​youth impacted by adversity, economic, and housing ​challenges.

  • Support Gun Violence Prevention. Adena is committed to keeping the development of Berkeley’s gun violence prevention (part of the Reimagining Public Safety initiative) on track, and if possible, accelerating it. Gun violence is the nation’s number one cause of death in children – that’s unacceptable.

• Address staffing shortages in the police department. Even as we work to transfer appropriate community safety services to mental health, public health, and social service professionals, BPD remains understaffed, risking longer response times for calls for service and reduced capacity for emergency response. Adena will work to support our police department in addressing staffing shortages and increasing technology that has been proven to deter and assist in solving crime.