Specialized Policing Responses: Law Enforcement/Mental Health Learning Sites Jurisdictions across the country are exploring strategies to improve the outcomes of encounters between law enforcement and people with mental disorders. These efforts took root in the late 1980s, with the emergence of crisis intervention teams and co-response models. As a growing number of communities engage in the development of specialized policing responses (SPR), many grapple with the program design process, and are unsure how to tailor models from other jurisdictions to best fit their distinct circumstances. In an effort to expand the knowledge base for law enforcement agencies interested in starting or enhancing a SPR, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center selected six police departments from across the country to act as national law enforcement/mental health learning sites. These learning sites represent a diverse cross-section of perspectives and program examples, and are dedicated to helping other jurisdictions across the country improve their responses to people with mental illnesses. Salt Lake City (UT) Police Department Total number of agency personnel: 533 Sworn: 437 Civilian: 96 Total population served: 186,000 Jurisdiction and state: Salt Lake City, Utah Program Highlights • Crisis Intervention Team statewide effort: 40-hour CIT patrol-based and correction-based academies • Crisis Intervention Team for youth: 8-hour academy • Autism training: Two annual 5-hour courses • Post-traumatic stress disorder specialization and curriculum currently under construction • Recertification and officer resilience CIT training • Small city and rural community collaboration and coordination across the state • Detective follow-up on mental health calls for service The Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) is the largest municipal police department in Utah, and it serves as the lead agency for the Statewide Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program in Utah. In 2000, department leadership organized a committee to review specialized policing responses across the country to identify the best way to improve the department’s responses to people with mental disorders. Around the same time, the Utah Department of Human Services’ Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, which oversees all mental health authorities across the state, made specialized training for officers responding to people with mental disorders a high priority. After identifying CIT as the model of choice, SLCPD began conducting CIT Academies in April 2001, hosting officers from across Utah. Recognizing the logistical difficulty of smaller departments coordinating their own training, DSAMH supported the SLCPD’s efforts to train officers from around the state. Utah uses a regionalized training academy approach. Statewide planners impose a set of requirements for each regional academy, including which topics to include and what local site visits to conduct. These regional academies have discretion, however, to make changes to meet the distinct needs of their jurisdiction. For example, to meet the mental health facility site visit requirement, SLCPD takes trainees to the state psychiatric hospital, whereas in a neighboring municipality they visit a local outpatient facility. To ensure consistency across the academies, each uses the same end-of-training examination, and all officers who have successfully completed the training are certified by the Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health as a CIT officer in the state of Utah. In addition to CIT training and statewide coordination activities, SLCPD has implemented additional practices to provide the most appropriate response to calls involving a person with a suspected mental disorder. SLCPD operates a dedicated unit for these calls that is known as the CIT Investigative Unit. Whenever a case is identified as involving a person with a mental disorder, a detective in the CIT Investigative Unit reviews the report and determines if additional follow-up is required or would be beneficial for the individual. The CIT Investigative Unit makes contact with these people to connect them with relevant mental health services. To learn more about the SLCPD and its initiatives, please contact: Name Brandee Casias Liane Frederick Title Detective Detective Address P.O. Box 145497, Salt Lake City, UT 84114 Phone (801) 799-3414 (801) 799-3436 E-mail [email protected] [email protected] To learn more about the Law Enforcement/Mental Health Learning Sites, please visit csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/learning-sites/ or contact Nicola Smith-Kea at [email protected] or (240) 915-9718.