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San Diego Psychiatric Emergency Response Team
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- San Diego City Police and County Sheriff'sDepartments
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 2459
- 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:
- please contact PERT coordinator
San Diego Psychiatric Emergency Response Team
Contact:
- Name:
- Ann Sasaki-Madigan, Ph.D.
- Title:
- Inmate Services Division Manager
- Organization:
- San Diego City Police and County Sheriff's Departments
- Address:
- 10159 Mission Gorge Rd., Ste.C
Santee, CA - Email:
- ann.sasaki-madigan@sdsheriff.org
- Phone:
- 619-258-3001
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- San Diego City Police and County Sheriff'sDepartments
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- Municipal
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 2459
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:
- SDPD comprised a task force in 2001 of community members, families, consumers, law enforcement and recommended a crisis response team. PERT, was incorporated as a 501 C3 non-profit agency that provides training and mental health clinicians to any law enforcement agency that wishes to contract services. Each law enforcement agency funds their own officers for PERT teams.
- Total number of officers in program:
- please contact PERT coordinator
- Catchment area:
- Part of the jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
-
- Police Department
- Sheriff's Department
- Local Mental Health Department
- Community Mental Health Service Provider
- Private foundation grant funding
- Staff supported by funding:
-
- 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 line-level staff
- Law enforcement supervisory-level staff
- Law enforcement leadership
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) line-level staff
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) supervisory-level staff
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) leadership
- Consumers of mental health services
- Family members of consumers
- Advocates
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- NAMI, Mental Health Systems, Inc., County Mental Health, Community Connection, Second Chance/STRIVE, United African American Ministerial Action Council, Welcome Home Ministries etc.
- Written agreement of roles and procedures:
- Yes
- Recruitment and selection:
- Officers volunteer and all are selected.
- Program coordinator/boundary spanner
- Yes. The program coordinator represents a law enforcement agency
- Amanda Ruiz, MD PERT, Inc. 619-276-8112 ph aruiz@comresearch.org
Training on Mental Health Issues
- Types of training on mental health issues:
-
- Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
- 8
- Basic in-service training for all patrol officers
- upon request
- upon request
- Basic in-service training for dispatchers and / or call takers
- 4
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 20
- Number of officers who receive advanced training:
- 101-200
- Groups who conducts advanced training:
- Medical professionals (doctors or nurses)
- Advanced training topics:
- Recognizing symptoms of mental illness, and clinical issues
- Co-occurring disorders
- Psychiatric medications
- Community resources (mental health services, etc.)
- Legal issues concerning individuals with mental illness
- Legal issues concerning police officer liability
- 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
- Ride-alongs
- Videotapes
- Virtual reality/computerized simulations of mental illness symptoms
- Other information on training:
- please refer to PERT coordinator
Response Procedures
- Standardized dispatch questions:
- Yes
- Dispatch documentation:
- Not sure
- Incident documentation by responding officer:
- Not sure
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- please refer to PERT coordinator
- 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
- The person is being brought to a crisis center or other health care facility for stabilization or medications management
- Officers allowed to transport a person without handcuffs:
- a law enforcement officer needs to respond to this
- Access to drop-off locations:
- depends on the bed space availability
- Procedure for streamlined intake and a "no refusal" policy for police referrals?
- Yes
- Location of drop-off center(s):
- Psychiatric emergency / crisis center
- Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
- More than 45 minutes
Program Sustainability
- Data collection:
- Yes
- Published evaluation:
- PERT coordinator
- Local media coverage:
- please contact PERT coordinator
- Legislative funding or support:
- No
About this information:
A program representative provided this information details through a detailed survey.
For more information on the survey, read about our methodology or download a pdf of the full survey.
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