The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) recently launched a mobile sobriety unit to transport heavily-intoxicated vagrants from city streets and sidewalks to a short-term recovery center where they can sleep off their over-indulgence under the supervision of health professionals.
It is one way the city is adapting to its rapidly increasing homeless population. The one-year pilot program — called the Sobriety Emergency Response (SOBER) Unit — targets serial inebriates who have been costing taxpayers money with repetitive arrests and unnecessary visits to the emergency room. The SOBER Unit ambulance debuted in the Skid Row neighborhood, notorious for its estimated 1,777 unsheltered residents.
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