One of the most important things we do as a city is provide public safety for our residents and business community. When issues arise, we work closely with the Sheriff’s department and the community to address problems quickly and effectively.

Last year, in response to an increase in mental health calls to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, the department implemented the Mental Health Evaluation Team.

Having this resource available allows deputies the professional assistance they need to better deal with calls such as attempted suicides and domestic violence-related incidents. These teams are specially-trained to respond and follow up with specific mental health related calls, freeing up deputies to address other issues.

In response to an increase last year in domestic violence-related homicides, the city, Sheriff’s Department and the County formed the DIVERT (Domestic Intervention Violence Education Resource Team) Task Force. The task force is comprised of every agency in our valley and beyond that provides services, counseling and help to victims of domestic violence, as well as counseling for batterers. They work as a team to share information, and come up with ways to improve services and outreach to the community.

In the first six months of the DIVERT Task Force, there was a 5 percent increase in calls to the Domestic Violence Center’s 24-hour hotline (661-259-HELP). By working alongside the sheriff’s department, the Domestic Violence Center has experienced a 50 percent increase in referrals to the Center from area deputies and detectives.

Most recently, the City, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, L.A. County Fire Department and CHP launched a new traffic safety plan.

Utilizing the “three E’s,” the plan focuses on Education, Enforcement and Engineering to improve traffic safety in our community.

You can check it out at: Santa-Clarita.com/drivefocuslive.

I want to personally thank you for your support of our local law enforcement. They work hard every day to help keep our community safe.

Bob Kellar is mayor of the city of Santa Clarita.