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Baltimore County Mobile Crisis Response Team
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Baltimore County Police Department
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 1800
- Primary specialized response:
- Mental health professionals partner with law enforcement officers to provide on-scene crisis intervention and referral.
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Total number of officers in program:
- 5
Baltimore County Mobile Crisis Response Team
Contact:
- Name:
- Stephen Gossage
- Title:
- Unit Commander
- Organization:
- Baltimore County Police Department
- Address:
- 700 East Joppa Road
Towson, MD - Email:
- sgossage@co.ba.md.us
- Phone:
- 410-931-2165
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Baltimore County Police Department
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- Municipal
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 1800
Specialized Response Description
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Primary specialized response:
- Mental health professionals partner with law enforcement officers to provide on-scene crisis intervention and referral.
- Secondary specialized response:
- There is only one specialized response program in the jurisdiction.
- Background information:
- The crisis response team is part of comprehensive crisis response system with a cooperative partnership between the County's Bureau of Mental Health, the police department, and a mental health provider. Services include a 24-hour hotline, 2 urgent care clinics, CISM, teams of clinicians to provide in-home treatment and a mobile crisis response team (MCT). The MCT is a specialized team consisting of a police officer and a mental health clinician who respond to hotline and 911 police calls for service involving behavioral emergencies.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 5
- Number of people with mental illness served:
- More than 500
- Catchment area:
- Part of the jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
-
- Police Department
- Local Mental Health Department
- State Mental Health Authority
- Federal grant funds
- Staff supported by funding:
-
- Law Enforcement Officer
- MH Service Provider (e.g. case manager, social worker)
- Medical professional (e.g. nurse, doctor)
- Program Coordinator
Program Partners and Personnel
- Existence of planning and oversight committee:
- Yes, currently
- Committee participants:
-
- Law enforcement supervisory-level staff
- Law enforcement leadership
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) supervisory-level staff
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) leadership
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- Affiliated Sante Group, NAMI, Baltimore County Bureau of Mental Health
- Written agreement of roles and procedures:
- Yes
- Recruitment and selection:
- Officers volunteer and some are selected.
- Program coordinator/boundary spanner
- Yes. The program coordinator represents a mental health agency
- Dan DeBold Baltimore County Bureau of Mental Health Towson, Maryland 21212 410-887-2731
Training on Mental Health Issues
- Types of training on mental health issues:
-
- Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
- 24 hours
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 24 hours
- Number of officers who receive advanced training:
- 201-500
- Groups who conducts advanced training:
-
- Police officers
- Mental health professionals (crisis workers)
- Medical professionals (doctors or nurses)
- Consumers
- Advocates
- Advanced training topics:
- Recognizing symptoms of mental illness, and clinical issues
- Co-occurring disorders
- Psychiatric medications
- Community resources (mental health services, etc.)
- De-escalation techniques
- Less lethal use of force options
- Suicide prevention
- The role of families and other supports in mental health treatment and recovery
- Advanced training methods:
-
- Presentations (including panels, lectures, and/or PowerPoints)
- Role plays
- Virtual reality/computerized simulations of mental illness symptoms
Response Procedures
- Standardized dispatch questions:
- Yes
- Dispatch documentation:
- Document in central computer database used for all calls, such as a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system
- Incident documentation by responding officer:
- Record information in a field encounter form, or other form used to document every citizen encounter
- Record information in an arrest report
- Record information in log maintained by mental health personnel at the crisis drop-off location or by some other mental health organization
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- For officer safety issues.
- Mental health professional available to support police responder:
- Yes, both on-site and remotely
- Officers permitted to transport people with mental illness to services when:
-
- The person has volunteered to receive mental health treatment
- The person is being brought to a hospital for emergency evaluation
- Officers allowed to transport a person without handcuffs:
- Officer has discretion depending on persons age, sex, physical and mental condition, nature of custody, past criminal record and type of security present.
- Access to drop-off locations:
- Yes. It is open 24 hours a day.
- Procedure for streamlined intake and a "no refusal" policy for police referrals?
- Yes
- Location of drop-off center(s):
-
- Psychiatric emergency room in general hospital
- General hospital emergency room
- Drop-off center accepts people with co-occurring substance abuse disorders:
- No
- Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
- More than 45 minutes
Program Sustainability
- Data collection:
- Yes
- Published evaluation:
- No
- Local media coverage:
- No
- Legislative funding or support:
- No
About this information:
A program representative provided this information details through a detailed survey.
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