Specialized law enforcement team

A specialized team of law enforcement personnel is responsible solely for responding to mental health-related calls for service and other duties related to people who have mental illness.

Local Examples

Pima County, AZ Tucson Police Department

• The Mental Health Support Team (MHST) is a specially trained unit that includes a captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant, detectives, and field officers.
• The MHST serves as a mental health resource for other officers, community members, and health care providers.
• The team works with case managers, behavioral health professionals, prosecutors, and community partners to prevent a crisis before it occurs.

For a sample related to this example, see this resource:

• MHST Operations Manual

For more information on this example, see this resource:

• Tucson Police Department Law Enforcement-Mental Health Learning Site Profile
• Pima County, Ariz.: Meeting Needs Along the Behavioral Health and Justice Continuum

Dane County, WI Madison Police Department

• Mental health liaison officers volunteer to work with mental health providers, advocates, and people with mental illnesses to provide individual response plans and follow-up services; address system issues or concerns; share information internally and externally, as appropriate; and, if possible, respond to actively occurring mental health calls for service.
• Six full-time mental health officers (MHOs) coordinate follow-up and outreach efforts with three civilian crisis workers who are embedded within the police department.
• This team of MHOs and crisis workers aims to collaboratively address the underlying issues that generate repeated calls for service.

For more information on this example, see this resource:

• Madison Police Department Law Enforcement-Mental Health Learning Site Profile