Improving Law Enforcement and Mental Health Sector Collaborations | National Police Foundation

Improving Law Enforcement and Mental Health Sector Collaborations

Project Summary 

With funding support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the National Police Foundation (NPF) is working with the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, to further projects that promote and expand mental health and law enforcement partnerships. This work supports law enforcement agencies around the country in planning and implementing effective public-safety responses to people who have mental illnesses. NPF takes a number of roles in these collaborations:

  • NPF facilitates peer-to-peer learning through a diverse cross-section of model strategies and examples of successful collaborations between law enforcement and mental health agencies that promotes promising practices and sustainability plans.
  • NPF supports communities of practice to bring together practitioners, academics and others around the concept of law enforcement and mental health collaborations.
  • NPF is also working with the CSG Justice Center on developing technical assistance plans focused on specific topic areas such as embedding clinicians, mental health crisis center coordination, diversion strategies, specialized training, and data collection and analysis.

 

Methodology

NPF is using its extensive understanding of public safety operations, law enforcement and mental health issues and technical assistance provision, to support this collaborative effort. Additionally, leveraging its experience developing toolkits and other resources for law enforcement, NPF is working with the CSG Justice Center to support the development of products and services that will enhance law enforcement agency efforts in working with behavioral health and other stakeholders in addressing calls for service involving individuals with mental health challenges.

 

Implications

Law enforcement agencies have used police-mental health collaboration programs to help officers safely and effectively respond to calls for service involving people with mental illnesses. Utilizing the expertise of NPF, law enforcement agencies and their behavioral health partners will be provided with a myriad resources to assess their progress toward implementing high quality partnership-based solutions.

 

Project Websites

https://csgjusticecenter.org/projects/justice-and-mental-health-collaboration-program-jmhcp/

https://bja.ojp.gov/program/pmhc

 

Funding & Collaboration

The National Police Foundation’s Law Enforcement Response to Mental Health project is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

 

Points of Contact

Dominique Burton
Project Associate
National Police Foundation
dburton@policefoundation.org
(202) 847-4060

Rebecca Benson
Senior Project Associate
National Police Foundation
rbenson@policefoundation.org
(202) 833-1464 Ext. 197

Jennifer Zeunik
Director of Local Programs
National Police Foundation
jzeunik@policefoundation.org
(202) 721-9769 Ext. 168

 

Keywords

technical assistance; mental health; Police and Mental Health Collaborations; PMHC; Justice and Mental Health Program; JMHCP