Changes in Police Contact After Admission to the Assertive Community Treatment With Police Integration Program.

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Services Research
• Criminal Justice Reform
• Psychiatric Epidemiology

Background:

• Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) improves quality of life for individuals with severe mental illness but does not reduce criminal justice system contact.
• The novel ACT with Police Integration (ACT-PI) model embeds police officers within ACT teams.
• ACT-PI is perceived by clients and staff as an acceptable approach to reduce negative police encounters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the ACT-PI model on police encounters among individuals with severe mental illness.
• To analyze changes in the frequency and nature of police contacts before and after program admission.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of police contact data for 448 unique ACT-PI clients between 2008 and 2019.
• Comparison of police encounter types (overall, criminal, mental health-related) pre- and post-ACT-PI admission.

Main Results:

• A significant decrease in overall police encounters was observed.
• Non-mental health-related police encounters decreased, while mental health-related encounters increased.
• Disparities in outcomes were noted among clients identified by police based on race.

Conclusions:

• The ACT-PI program effectively reduces the criminalization of individuals with severe mental illness.
• The model facilitates a shift in police responses towards mental health-specific interventions.
• Nuanced effects of ACT-PI warrant further investigation, particularly concerning racial disparities.