Community Responses to People in Crisis

On November 2, 2016 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. eastern, the Smart Policing Initiative will present a webinar on "Community Responses to People in Crisis." This webinar will focus on the role of policing in assisting communities with addressing mental health concerns and will describe a range of response strategies for agencies to consider. Dr. Laura Kunard, Senior Research Scientist from CNA, will facilitate this webinar. Dr. Kunard will provide an overview of police-mental health collaboration models in the United States and review of key features of effective community-police partnerships regarding mental health. The webinar will feature three case studies of law enforcement response models to mental health. Sergeant Kelly Bush, Corporal Thomas Kelley, and Corporal Kannika Nimithkoune from the Pinellas County, Florida Sheriff's Office will share their County's strategy for addressing high utilizers of services. They will also present an overview of their agency's community mental health response strategy. Lieutenants Brian Bixler and Charles Dempsey from the Los Angeles, California Police Department will describe a multi-layered approach that includes co-response teams, follow-up case managers, and triage/dispatch operators. Finally, Detective Brandee Casias from Salt Lake City, Utah Police Department will describe a regional crisis intervention training approach used across the state of Utah.