A Novel Police-Mental Health Linkage System to Promote Pre-Booking Jail Diversion

描述（由申请人提供）：精神健康和刑事司法系统之间的广泛分歧导致许多患有严重精神疾病的人在精神健康治疗更合适的时候被逮捕和监禁。这类人的“犯罪化”在美国是一个广泛记录的问题。正如顺序拦截模型所示，在刑事司法系统中，为了防止不必要的逮捕和监禁，最有效的干预点是警察与患有严重精神疾病的人的初次接触，这是刑事司法介入的第一步。这个R34项目旨在实施一项新的警察-心理健康联系系统的试验，并测试其在最终用户中的可行性和可接受性。我们的新联动系统将包括三个步骤。首先，一些患有严重精神疾病和有刑事司法前科的个人将特别同意允许简要披露他们的精神健康状况，作为国家刑事司法信息系统登记处的一部分。第二，当一名官员在遇到参与者时，将参与者的姓名或身份标识作为常规背景调查的一部分时，该官员将收到一条电子信息，表明该人有特殊的心理健康问题，并拨打1-800电话，以获取更多信息，这些信息将与我们的联系专家联系。最后，联系专家将是一名经过认证的心理健康提供者，他将通过与官员一起思考观察到的行为和潜在的解决方案来协助官员。我们预计，在某些非强制性逮捕的情况下，该官员随后将选择转介或转移到精神卫生服务机构

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The widespread division between mental health and criminal justice systems leads to many persons with serious mental illnesses being arrested and incarcerated when mental health treatment would be more appropriate. The "criminalization" of such individuals is an extensively documented problem across the U.S. As illustrated by the Sequential Intercept Model, the most effective point of intervention within the criminal justice system to prevent unnecessary arrest and incarceration is the initial encounter between an officer and a person with a serious mental illness, which is the first step in criminal justice involvement. This R34 project seeks to implement a trial of a new police-mental health linkage system and to test its feasibility and acceptability among end-users. Our new linkage system will consist of three steps. First, some individuals who have a serious mental illness and a history of criminal justice involvement will give special consent to allow a brief disclosure of their mental health status to be included as part of a registry in the state's criminal justice information system. Second, when an officer runs an enrolled participant's name or identifiers as part of a routine background check during an encounter, the officer will receive an electronic message that the person has special mental health considerations, and to call a 1-800 number for more information that will connect to our Linkage Specialist. Lastly, the Linkage Specialist, who will b a certified mental health provider, will assist the officer by thinking through observed behaviors and potential resolutions with the officer. We expect that in some cases where an arrest is not obligatory, the officer will then choose to refer to or transport to mental health services instead of making an arrest because of the information provided by our straight-forward, low- cost system. Three overarching aims will guide this pilot intervention project. In Aim A, we will implement a demonstration of the police-mental health linkage system in order to operationalize procedures and develop the protocol manual (for a larger study) through collaboration with three key partners, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (which maintains Georgia's criminal justice database/information system), the Savannah- Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, and the local community mental health agency, Gateway Behavioral Health Services. In Aim B, we will assess all key stakeholder groups' perceptions of acceptability through focus groups conducted with patients, patrol officers, police department leaders, and mental health services program managers. In Aim C, we will demonstrate feasibility and estimate effect size and other parameters to prepare for a larger-scale study. Feasibility will be examined among 200 participants with a serious mental illness and a criminal justice history. Their number of arrests during the 1-year intervention will be compared to the prior year, and we will assess the how many calls result in arrest versus mental health service linkage. To examine how the linkage system worked and the ways it impacts decision-making, we will also conduct individual interviews with officers who make use of the system, and the Linkage Specialists who take their calls.