Public safety officials are being called on to respond to mental and behavioral health crisis situations by the thousands every year, highlighting a need for continued investment in community-wide resources and training.
Earlier this year, the Office of the Attorney General released the annual report from the Independent Investigations Division (IID) that investigates officer involved fatalities in Maryland. A section of the report specifically explored how often a call for service is directly related to a mental or behavioral health crisis. Increasingly law enforcement officers are the first point of contact when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, placing them at the intersection of public safety and behavioral health response.
The report highlights how frequently these encounters occur in Maryland and the complex challenges they present for officers, families, and communities alike.
From the report:
Police interact with thousands of Marylanders experiencing some level of mental health crises per year, and due to the combined efforts of law enforcement, other government agencies, and mental health providers, the majority of those encounters are non-fatal.
The IID has investigated 45 fatal shootings during its existence, and mental health crises account for 40 percent of those cases. In all but one of those incidents the decedent was armed, and no charges were brought against the involved officer. According to the report, in the overwhelming majority of fatal incidents, police are being called to the scene or are directly approached for assistance; in other words, police officers are not seeking out these encounters, their presence is being sought. While in the vast majority of investigations officers are found innocent of any wrongdoing from a policy or incident management perspective these fatal incidents represent a tragic loss of life and highlights the importance of mental health services and behavioral health training not just for law enforcement but for the broader community.
Preliminary data from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy (GOCPP) suggests that the number of calls for service statewide, due to mental health crisis, are in the several thousand. Law enforcement agencies across the counties have recognized these issues and responded with a variety of policies, training, and collaborative partnerships with government and non-governmental agencies including Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, which is focused on understanding and deescalating mental health crises. County governments are increasingly using mobile crisis units and teams for initial responses and referrals.
The GOCPP insights also demonstrate that behavioral health response is increasingly an even larger component of everyday public safety work. The volume of calls responded to highlights the continued need for the investment in and provision of mental health services before a crisis arises. This can be through the education system, health departments, human services teams, employers, and the like. The growing efforts underway across Maryland to better equip officers for these difficult situations on their own are no longer sufficient to keep up with the need.
Officers are routinely called into emotionally charged and unpredictable situations that require quick decision-making, strong communication skills, and partnerships with community-based resources. Expanding access to community based behavioral health resources through law enforcement intervention can help ensure officers have the community infrastructure and support necessary to minimize incident levels and respond effectively when crisis occurs. As counties continue strengthening these collaborative approaches, the IID report underscores the value of treating behavioral health response as a core component of modern public safety systems.
