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 illnesses. These efforts took root in the late 1980s, with the emergence of crisis intervention teams (CIT) and co-response models. As a growing number of communities engage in the development of specialized policing responses (SPRs), many grapple with the program design process, and are unsure how to tailor models from other jurisdictions to their own distinct problems and circumstances.
In an effort to expand the knowledge base for law enforcement agencies interested in starting or enhancing a SPR, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), selected six police departments to act as national law enforcement/mental health learning sites. Located across the country, 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.
University of Florida Police Department Total number of agency personnel: 163 Sworn: 90 Civilian: 73 Total population served: 80,000 students, staff, faculty, and visitors daily Jurisdiction and state: University of Florida, Florida
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Program Highlights Comprehensive collaboration among many critical campus entities Large university campus Collaboration across campus, city, and county law enforcement agencies
The University of Florida Police Department (UFPD) is a campus law enforcement agency that has, for the last two decades, incorporated responses to those in mental health crisis training into its in-service training programs for all sworn staff. This training, conducted in conjunction with the staff from the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC), has long served as the cornerstone of its specialized police response (SPR) to those in mental health distress. In addition, the UFPD officers began attending Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) training programs in 2004. The skills acquired through CIT training were then incorporated into the department’s overall SPR. Furthermore, the UFPD collaborated with staff from the CWC to formalize the use of on-call Crisis Intervention Consultants (CICs) when responding to those in mental distress who reside in on-campus housing facilities. The CIC program serves as a consultation and intervention resource for the university’s Department of Housing and Residence Education and the UFPD. The CIC staff provides afterhours crisis intervention services for the residence life staff and students. Such responses may include collaboration with the Department of Housing and Residence Education and other university and community agencies in the assessment and stabilization of critical incidents. The CIC consultation function serves as a brief assessment and problem-solving intervention, with referral to existing resources.
In addition to the CICs, the police department also has a Crisis Response Team (CRT). The CRT was created by the University of Florida Dean of Student’s Office as a collaborative response group that is activated when crisis incidents arise within the campus community. The CRT is comprised of the university’s mental health counselors, administrators, campus ministry representatives, and other administrative staff who respond to incident locations on campus and assist officers by providing on-site counseling and administrative needs coordination. Finally, the UFPD, the staff from the CWC, the Department of Housing and Residence Education, and the Dean of Student’s Office created a preemptive assessment group called the Behavioral Consultation Team (BCT). The BCT meets once a week to exchange information about individual students, staff, and faculty regarding criminal, judicial, mental health history (when not prohibited by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act restrictions or other confidentiality requirements), and any other activity that would be perceived as either posing a direct threat to the community or has been deemed disruptive. At present, membership on the BCT includes staff from the UFPD, the CWC, the Department of Housing and Residence Education, the Dean of Student’s Office, as well as staff from the University of Florida General Counsel’s Office, and Human Resources. The assessment information discussed at these meetings is readily made available to UFPD officers in the field to help them respond better to calls for service involving identified individuals.
To learn more about the University of Florida Police Department and their initiatives, contact: Name Darren J. Baxley Title Operations Captain P.O. Box 112150 Address Gainesville, FL 32611-2150 Phone (352) 392-6995 E-mail dbaxley@ufl.edu
To learn more about the Law Enforcement/Mental Health Learning Sites, coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), visit www.consensusproject.org/learningsites or contact Whitney Kujawa (wkujawa@csg.org/240-482-8577). For more information about law enforcement responses to people with mental illnesses, visit www.consensusproject.org/issue_areas/law-enforcement.
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