Culver City Gov: From direct Council control of the Police and Fire Chiefs to a broader “public safety” model: the official record shows a decade of changes in oversight, police staffing, crisis response and who answers certain calls for help.

Thomas Small is part of the record from the beginning. In 2016, Small joined Meghan Sahli-Wells, Alex Fisch, Kelly Kent and Deborah Wallace in the official campaign against Measure CA, which would have transferred appointment and reporting authority for the Police and Fire Chiefs from the elected City Council to the City Manager. Voters rejected Measure CA, leaving that authority with the Council.

By 2020, Small was participating directly in Police oversight. He served on the Police Liaison Subcommittee and moved File 21-30, the action that launched the use-of-force review and broader public-safety review. The City describes that process as examining how to reallocate public-safety resources and reduce reliance on law enforcement for some community needs.

The later implementation changed Police staffing and expanded non-police response. The City says the FY2021/22 budget permanently eliminated eight sworn Police positions—four replaced by civilian positions and four left eliminated—and allocated $1.5 million to create a Mobile Crisis Intervention Service using non-Police staff for certain mental-health, substance-use, homelessness and well-being calls.

Freddy Puza’s Council record sits in the later phase of that policy shift. Official roll calls show him opposing exclusion of the Reimagining Public Safety Element from General Plan 2045, voting to create the broader Standing Public Safety Subcommittee in 2026, and voting for a full City budget that included additional Mobile Crisis Team funding. His separate Police-technology votes are listed on the Puza record and vote-ledger pages.

For residents, the measurable questions are practical: who responds, how quickly, during what hours, with what staffing, and under what Police/Fire/Mobile Crisis co-response rules?