Routing of Emergency Calls


If the caller lives in the City of Los Angeles, the emergency call goes to a single central Public Service Answering Point (PSAP) run by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). They route EMS calls to the Los Angeles City Fire Department who dispatch either a fire engine, paramedic unit or both. If the caller lives in one of the forty-five cities with a contract for 9-1-1 services with the County Sheriff, the call goes to a local Sheriff Substation PSAP. If it is an EMS call, it is transferred to the Los Angeles County Fire Department who dispatches a fire engine, paramedic unit, and private ambulance. Sometimes, the Sheriff's PSAP will route the call to a City's fire service if they are responding to EMS calls. Again, a private ambulance is dispatched. Cities that do not contract with the Sheriff have their own PSAPs and do their own dispatching.

As noted earlier in this report, this study covers the area defined by the curfew imposed by the City and County of Los Angeles. Most of the defined geographic area falls within Los Angeles City boundaries. The remaining area includes portions of the jurisdictions of Inglewood, Lennox, Hawthorne, Compton, Gardena, Lynwood, Southgate, Florence, Huntington Park, Vernon, and Athens. County Sheriff PSAPs would receive 9-1-1 calls from these areas. The number of civil disturbance related calls that they received is unknown.


Medical Care for the Injured

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