Although mental health is always on law enforcement’s radar, the concepts of behavioral health systems and levels of care aren’t things that field officers have to think about. But unfortunately, these concepts often leech into their worlds and become an issue they face serving families and children out in the community. In the past several months, I’ve had two situations where patrol was thrown into having to learn about these concepts as they affected their jobs as well.
The first situation was reference a 12 year old boy who had come to the attention of our police department community outreach program. This program consists of officers and crisis intervention workers offering case management and support around populations who are frequent clients of law enforcement due to having the unwillingness or inability to access appropriate social services. This team normally deals with an adult population, but this child had come to the attention of the team because officers had been out with him a number of times as he hung out downtown with other run-aways and was engaging in drug use and other delinquent behaviors. The police dispatched crisis intervention team had been out on him in his home on a number of occasions as well. He didn’t seem to be engaged in mental health treatment at the moment although historically he had been receiving out-patient services in the community. One of the sergeants on the team asked how they could help facilitate appropriate services for this minor as the family seemed overwhelmed and unable to handle his behaviors. The team then reached out to the area’s child and adolescent crisis intervention team who joined them in staffing this child’s case. The collaboration led to solutions including reengaging the family (and if not potential state involvement) and networking with the former mental health provider to reestablish services and get a potential referral to an appropriate level of care (substance use treatment, wrap-around services, residential). Although none of these solutions were within the power of the police to provide, their investment in this child, as well as, recognizing the danger in his current path and the potential for him continuing to have police contact allowed all of the appropriate resources to come together to access the right support and level of care improving his outcome.
The second situation involved a more acute crisis in which patrol responded to an out of control, aggressive 7 year old male. This child receives a number of developmental disability (DD) services along with out-patient mental health services but getting him into an appropriate level of care has been a challenge for the mom and she is understandably exhausted. During this current situation, police responded and had to physically restrain the child while reaching out for assistance from the child and adolescent crisis response team. The officers and the team collaborated to determine the appropriate level of care for the child in this moment (crisis respite versus hospitalization) and opted for ER diversion a goal of the crisis response program. Officers ended up transporting the child to the crisis respite site for safety where he was stabilized.
Both of these situations show how field officers end up engaging in decisions affected by behavioral health systems and levels of care and this is occurring more and more as officers are being forced to fill in the gaps and provide Band-Aids for the mental health and social services systems. Due to this it is important for law enforcement to consider these needs before a situation occurs. Here are five suggestions:
· Know your community resources- Who are the other players in your area?
· Network with other resources- Get together with other players before a situation arises
· Understand the basic behavioral health system in your area-What levels of care exist? How are they accessed?
· Be familiar with common behavioral health terminology-What is ICTS (Intensive Community Based Treatment Services), Wrap-around, PRTS (Psychiatric Residential Treatment Services)?
· Recognize there is often a cross-over between juvenile justice and mental health and know the extent of each in your area-Often one has to support the needs of the other
Most officers never intended to get into the behavioral health line field. Many never considered that as part of law enforcement’s job at all. Realistically speaking though it is and that probably won’t change anytime soon. So having the ability to handle situations which require police response but have behavioral health at the root, especially with children is going to not only make your job easier but will improve the health and well-being of the children and families that you serve. Your effort and collaboration might be what stands between a child getting the help they need and a child falling through the cracks of an often broken system and sliding right into the adult justice system. With a little foresight and effort, you can make a huge difference in the life of child and get yourself back in service doing true police work.
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
