Federal Public Safety Initiatives

Untreated mental illness is a serious problem in the United States. Nearly two million people with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are not receiving adequate treatment on any given day. The consequences of non-treatment are devastating: homelessness, suicide, incarceration, victimization and violence.

Law enforcement executives must play a leadership role in shifting the locus of care for individuals with severe mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system and back to the mental illness treatment system. A key activity is organizing a coalition of stakeholders who can accomplish this goal. Stakeholders may include other members of the criminal justice system, state and local governments, mental health providers, and of course, people with mental illnesses and their families. The coalition partners can identify systemic problems that cause people with severe mental illnesses to enter the criminal justice system and collaborate to effect changes that will facilitate diverting people into treatment and away from jail.

The benefits to law enforcement of diverting people with severe mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system and into treatment are numerous, and include reducing the risk of harm to officers, reduced liability, reduced costs and increased public safety.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Community Safety Institute have developed a process for forming and utilizing coalitions of stakeholders to shift the responsibility for caring for individuals with severe mental illness to the mental health community where the expertise for treating these illnesses resides. Guidance is provided for forming and utilizing coalitions of stakeholders to shift the responsibility for caring for individuals with severe mental illness to the mental health community, where the expertise for treating these illnesses resides. A model for diverting people from the criminal justice system is presented which includes the following phases: prevention, pre-arrest intervention, and post-arrest response. Promising practices and training guidelines are presented for each phase.

Law enforcement executives are in a unique position in their communities to provide the leadership necessary to address these difficult problems, thereby reducing the burden on their offices while improving the quality of life in their communities. While each community’s response will be different, this document provides some basic information to assist in getting the process started.