On November 7, the Council of State Governments Justice Center released the most recent BJA-supported resource on law enforcement/mental health encounters, Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: Strategies for Effective Law Enforcement Training at the National Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Conference in Atlanta. The conference release was soon followed by a broad dissemination to the law enforcement and mental health field. The publication is the second in a series that addresses law enforcement and mental health issues: a companion to the Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Program. It provides greater depth and guidance on the element related to training policing professionals.

You can download Strategies for Effective Law Enforcement Training (PDF) for free from the Consensus Project Law Enforcement webpage.

This guide reviews common challenges to successfully developing training for officers' interactions involving people with mental illnesses and synthesizes the key lessons learned by jurisdictions that have implemented recruit or in-service programs. Written in partnership with the Police Executive Research Forum, it discusses which individuals can best serve as trainers, how they can be identified, what preparation and support they require, what teaching techniques are most effective, and how planners can design training to improve outcomes from these encounters.

"This publication provides practical advice on learning strategies that should be considered when implementing any training curriculum," said Ron Honberg, National Director for Policy and Legal Affairs at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "It underscores the need for collaborative, multidisciplinary training approaches that will resonate with law enforcement personnel."

Related Activities

The CIT Conference also featured a presentation led by Justice Center consultant Melissa Reuland, which focused on tailoring law enforcement responses to the unique needs of a jurisdiction. This information will be available in an upcoming publication, the third in this BJA-supported series. Please encourage your colleagues or grantees to subscribe to the Justice Center's Consensus Project newsletter, so they can be notified of this release.

More than 900 people registered for the Justice Center's first joint webinar with the National Council on Community Behavioral Healthcare to learn more about improving law enforcement responses to people with mental illnesses and the Essential Elements. That audio presentation and PowerPoint can now be downloaded for free from the Consensus Project Law Enforcement webpage.

On October 31, 2008, Former first lady Rosalynn Carter visited the Dougherty (GA) Superior Court Mental Health/Substance Abuse Division. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), has designated the Dougherty Court as one of five mental health court learning sites to provide a peer support network for local and state officials interested in planning a new - or improving upon an existing - mental health court.

To learn more about the Dougherty court, please click here for a snapshot (pdf).

To learn more about the other mental health court learning sites, click here.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter visiting the Dougherty (GA) Superior Court Mental Health/Substance Abuse Division

Save the Date: February 8 - 11, 2009, American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) 2009 Winter Training Institute in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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The Observer (NY) - Court to address mental health issues
11/16/08 - "The Dunkirk City Mental Health Court is anticipated to start Dec. 4 and is looking to have the same type of positive effect on individuals it deals with as does the current drug court run by City Court Judge Walter Drag."

Columbia Missourian (MO) - Program aims to improve policing of people with mental illnesses
11/13/08 - "Over the next few months, the Columbia Police Department will implement a new training and community relations program to improve policing of people with mental illness, a group that poses significant challenges to officers and the criminal justice system."

Tallahassee Democrat (FL) - Law-enforcement officers training to better deal with people battling mental illness
11/7/08 - "About 30 local law-enforcement officers went through training last week to learn how to better deal with people who are having a mental-health crisis."

Flint Journal (MI) - Court program to help, not punish, mentally ill sees first successes
11/5/08 - "To graduate, participants in the year-long program must complete court orders, such as staying on medication, getting a job or volunteering in the community."

News Press (FL) - Creative solutions can save money in corrections system
10/29/08 - "The Mentally Ill Offender Unit provides supervision services for parole, probation and post-prison offenders who have been diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness. The unit works in partnership with a variety of community and statewide agencies that have mutual responsibility and interests in mental illness. The collective objective of this project is to enhance/preserve community safety, reduce legal/ criminal recidivism and to reduce clinical/therapeutic recidivism."

West Central Tribune (MN) - New youth mobile crisis unit is 'at the ready'
10/27/08 - "A team of mental health practitioners is making on-site house calls to help families with children who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The youth mobile crisis unit was started in mid-August by the Woodland Centers. It's available free of charge to people in the six-county area of Kandiyohi, Chippewa, Renville, Meeker, Swift and Lac qui Parle counties."

WFIE (IN) - EPD officers receive mental illness training
10/27/08 - "Law enforcement is being trained to deal with the mentally ill in a crisis situation. Vanderburgh County now has a crisis intervention team that will train officers to recognize individuals who suffer from a mental illness, better communicate with them and control the situation without anyone getting hurt."

Zanesville Times-Recorder (OH) - HOPE court gives offenders an alternative to jail time
10/23/08 - "The Healthy Options Promoting Empowerment (HOPE) Behavioral Health Court, is a specialized program designed for non-felony offenders going through both Muskingum County Court and Zanesville Municipal Court."

KDIK (ID) - Local agencies team up for crisis intervention training for mentally disabled
10/21/08 - "Imagine being a police officer and not knowing how to handle a situation because the person was mentally disabled. Issues like this aren't too uncommon. Which is why Sam Cochran is going across the nation and spreading the message of how important it is to have local agencies take part in the Crisis Intervention Team training."

Tulsa World (AZ) - Program lauds first graduates
10/21/08 - "The Tulsa County mental health court was launched in June 2007 with a $170,000 legislative appropriation to provide a voluntary alternative to incarceration for criminal offenders who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. The court emphasizes monitoring, accountability and therapy."