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

The assertive community treatment (ACT) model has been shown to successfully reduce hospitalizations and increase quality of life for individuals living with severe mental illness (e.g., psychotic disorders or schizophrenia). Participation in ACT alone, however, does not decrease clients' contact with the criminal justice system. ACT with police integration (ACT-PI), a novel model that entails integrating police officers into existing ACT teams, is viewed by clients and staff as an acceptable method to reduce criminal encounters with unknown police officers. The aim of the study was to examine changes in multiple types of police encounters before and after admission to the program.

The authors collected data from 448 unique ACT-PI clients who had at least one police contact between 2008 and 2019.

The number of overall police encounters significantly decreased, in particular for non-mental health-related occurrences. The number of mental health-related police encounters increased. These changes were especially evident among clients whom police identified by their race, suggesting that the ACT-PI program may have nuanced effects on outcomes for this group.

These findings provide further support for the ACT-PI program as an effective method to reduce the criminalization of persons with severe mental illness and to shift remaining police responses toward mental health-related interventions.