Note
"A report prepared by the
Council of State Governments Justice Center
and the Police Executive Research Forum
for the
Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs,
U.S. Department of Justice"--Title page.
Summary
"A growing number of law enforcement agencies have partnered with mental health agencies and community groups to design and implement innovative programs to improve encounters involving people with mental illnesses. These “specialized policing responses” (SPRs) are designed to produce better outcomes from these encounters by training responders to use crisis de-escalation strategies and prioritize treatment over incarceration when appropriate.
This report explores the program design process, including detailed
examples from several communities from across the country. It is meant to assist initiative
leaders and agents of change who want to select or adapt program features from models
that will be most effective in their communities. To ensure that this material has practical
value, staff members from the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and the
Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) visited four jurisdictions with extensive experience
with SPRs to examine their decision-making and program development processes (selected
based on a range of characteristics such as diverse objectives, jurisdiction size, and program
model type). During each visit, project staff interviewed relevant stakeholders and observed
initiative activities. The four jurisdictions selected were Akron, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Los
Angeles, Calif.; and New River Valley, Va."--Pages viii-ix.
Contents
Section I. Step by step: the program design process --
Step 1. Understand the problem --
Step 2. Articulate program goals and objectives --
Step 3. Identify data-collection procedures
needed to revise and evaluate the program --
Step 4. Detail jurisdictional characteristics and
their influence on program responses --
Step 5. Establish response protocols --
Step 6. Determine training requirements --
Step 7. Prepare for program evaluation --
Section II. From the field: program Design in Action --
Tailoring Specialized Policing response programs
to specific problems --
Tailoring specialized policing response programs to
jurisdictional characteristics --
Appendix A. Site visit information --
Appendix B. Document development --
Appendix C: Program design worksheet.