West Hollywood Safety Ambassadors
Safer Cities | Safety Ambassadors Series | City Profile 3 of 3
Program at a Glance
Location: West Hollywood, California
Operator: City of West Hollywood (contracted through Block by Block, a national ambassador services company)
Institutional home: City government general fund / city budget
Approximate size: 30+ ambassadors after 2022 expansion
Notable feature: Among the most precisely documented cost comparisons in the ambassador landscape — approximately five ambassadors for the cost of one armed police officer
Political context: Small city (approximately 35,000 residents) adjacent to Los Angeles; politically progressive city government; expanded the program with active support from both the city council and a coalition of over three dozen community organizations
Significance: The clearest documented example of a city government-operated ambassador program with an explicit, quantified cost-efficiency argument and broad community coalition support
Background
West Hollywood is a small, densely populated city in Los Angeles County with a politically progressive city government, a large LGBTQ+ population, active nightlife and entertainment industries, and a high concentration of both older residents and people experiencing homelessness. Its per-square-mile density and the concentration of public activity on its main commercial corridors create both the conditions and the demand for visible public safety presence.
The city’s ambassador program predates the 2022 expansion that brought it to national attention. West Hollywood has operated a public safety ambassador presence for years as part of its non-police approach to quality-of-life issues in the city. The 2022 vote to add 30 ambassadors (bringing the total to a substantially larger force) generated the public record that makes the program documentable.
The expansion was championed by Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne: “We gave our residents the foot patrols they have been wanting for years.”[1] The statement acknowledges that the demand for visible patrol presence was real and pre-existing; the ambassador expansion met a demand that police foot patrols were not satisfying.
The 5-to-1 Cost Ratio
The most specific and most often cited evidence about ambassador program economics comes from West Hollywood: the city deploys approximately five safety ambassadors for the cost of one armed police officer.[2]
The West Hollywood ratio has been cited by advocates and officials in other cities. The 5-to-1 ratio is specific to West Hollywood’s compensation structures and California’s sworn officer costs.
The JusticeLA Coalition Support
The West Hollywood expansion was supported not just by the city council but by a coalition of over three dozen community organizations known as JusticeLA, which had championed the ambassador program expansion for months before the council vote.[3] Mayor Pro Tem Shyne explicitly credited the coalition in her public statement following the vote.
How the Program Operates
West Hollywood contracts with Block by Block, a national company that operates ambassador programs in commercial districts across the United States.[^5a]
The Scope of the Program: Mission and Service Delivery
West Hollywood’s ambassador program covers both commercial corridors and residential areas in the city, a function of West Hollywood’s small geographic size, which makes separating commercial and residential zones less meaningful than in larger cities.
The documented activities in the West Hollywood program include the standard ambassador toolkit: walking escorts, de-escalation of minor disputes, connection to services for people experiencing homelessness, Narcan availability for overdose response, visibility and deterrence in commercial areas, and maintenance reporting.
The transformation described by resident Emilio Castellanos — his local park going from “a magnet for drifters and drugs” to “a thriving centerpiece to our neighborhood with children laughing, birthdays, picnics and other activities” — is the experiential account of what the presence and service-connection model looks like when it works in a specific place over time.[4] The park description is one person’s account, not a program-level outcome measure; it illustrates the mechanism without proving it at scale.
The sentinel effect framing from program director Shea Gibson captures the deterrence design: “Our mission is to be a visible deterrent on the street. To try to offset any low-hanging fruit criminal activity.”[5] The explicit mission statement — visible deterrent, not response or investigation — names the primary mechanism: being present makes opportunistic crime less likely to occur.
The Funding Structure and Its Vulnerabilities
West Hollywood’s ambassador program is funded from the city’s general fund. San Francisco CAP was proposed for elimination by the mayor when the city faced an $800 million budget deficit, despite substantial political support and documented program performance.[^6a]
What the West Hollywood Program Contributes to the National Record
The cost documentation. The 5-to-1 ratio is the most specific publicly documented cost comparison in the ambassador landscape.[2]
The coalition model. JusticeLA’s mobilization for the expansion vote is documented in Mayor Pro Tem Shyne’s public statement.[3]
The resident experience documentation. Castellanos’s park description[4] and business owner Nat Polhamus’s account — “They have several people covering West Hollywood so you always feel there’s someone there that will have eyes on you in case something unfortunate happens”[6] — are documented testimonials from the program’s coverage area.
Documented Limitations
No independent evaluation. West Hollywood’s program has not been independently evaluated for crime reduction, service connection outcomes, or resident well-being. The resident testimonials and organizational support provide directional evidence but not controlled-study evidence.
The general fund vulnerability. Funding from city general fund budget without dedicated revenue protection is the structural risk that has already collapsed one of the country’s most established city ambassador programs (San Francisco CAP).[^6a] West Hollywood has not faced this test yet, but the structural vulnerability is present.
The contractor accountability gap. Operating through Block by Block provides program consistency but mediates the accountability relationship between the city and the ambassadors delivering the service. City residents who have concerns about ambassador conduct interface with a contractor’s management structure rather than directly with city management.
Bottom Line
West Hollywood’s Safety Ambassador program is documented by two contributions to the national record: a quantified cost comparison (five ambassadors for the cost of one armed officer) and a coalition expansion vote supported by over three dozen community organizations. Its structural funding vulnerability — city general fund without dedicated revenue protection — is shared with all city government-operated programs.
Sources
[1] Tweet by West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne following the ambassador expansion vote, documented in Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety
[2] West Hollywood program documentation: approximately 5 to 1 cost ratio. Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety
[3] Tweet by West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne, documented in Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety
[4] Emilio Castellanos’s park description is documented in the Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety The specific Beverly Press article in which this quote originally appeared could not be independently located via search engines; the quote is attributed to Castellanos as reproduced in the Safer Cities newsletter.
[5] Shea Gibson, West Hollywood security ambassador program head, quoted in Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety Gibson’s quote was also documented in ABC local news coverage of the West Hollywood program.
[^5a]: Beverly Press, “WeHo reaffirms support for Block by Block ambassadors,” August 2023. https://beverlypress.com/2023/08/weho-reaffirms-support-for-block-by-block-ambassadors/ Block by Block is the contracted operator of the West Hollywood program.
[6] ABC local news (West Hollywood), quoting business owner Nat Polhamus. Documented in Safer Cities newsletter, July 2022. https://safercitiesresearch.com/the-latest/two-big-bets-on-the-power-of-unarmed-security-ambassadors-to-increase-safety
[^6a]: ABC7 San Francisco, Luz Pena, June 2024. https://abc7news.com/post/san-francisco-community-ambassador-program-could-eliminated-amid/14972876/ CBS San Francisco, Andrea Nakano, June 13, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/supervisor-san-francisco-community-ambassadors-program/