LU DONG, SHANNON D. DONOFRY, HELIN HERNANDEZ, JACOBO PEREIRA-PACHECO, NABEEL QURESHI,
CHLOE GOMEZ, MALLIKA BHANDARKAR, DEBORAH KIM, NINA V. OZBARDAKCI, AMY L. SHEARER
Evaluation of the
Los Angeles County
Department of Public
Health Family Assistance
Program
P
olice violence is a leading cause of death among young men in the United States (Edwards,
Lee, and Esposito, 2019). In Los Angeles (LA) County, police- and custody-related deaths
remain urgent and persistent issues. According to the LA County Sheriff’s Department
(LASD), 16 individuals have died in police custody in 2025 alone (as of April 2025), con-
tributing to a total of 91 deaths since the start of 2023 (LASD, undated-a). Additionally, as of early
2025, three people died from the use of force by LASD deputies, totaling 20 fatalities and ten non-
fatal injuries reported since the beginning of 2023 (LASD, undated-b). In the three years prior to the
launch of the Family Assistance Program (FAP) in 2019, more than 100 individuals died while in
LASD custody or as a result of deputy-involved shootings, prompting efforts to improve support for
affected families (County of LA Board of Supervisors, 2019).
Origins of the Family Assistance Program
Regardless of specific circumstances, deaths of individuals by LASD shootings or while in LASD
custody are tragedies that could leave surviving family members and communities with profound
psychological and emotional trauma. Families affected by police-involved deaths experience symp-
toms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and social withdrawal (Outland
et al., 2022; Hawkins, 2024; Smith Lee and Robinson, 2019). For example, families of youth killed by
police report heightened psychological distress, which is compounded by media scrutiny, the lack of
justice, and recurring contact with law enforcement (Outland et al., 2022). Many families struggle
to “make sense of the senseless,” face intimidation from authorities, and feel unsupported by formal
Research Report
