Improving the Policing of Mental Health in San Jose: Rethinking How Police Respond to Mental Health Crisis

Prompted by the mass global protests during the summer of 2020 around racial equity and police brutality, cities around the nation are reexamining the role that police officers play in our daily lives. As part of the broader initiative around police reform, many cities are exploring opportunities for police alternatives, specifically during calls for service. More specifically, cities and states have begun to examine the complex role that police officers play during one of the most common calls for service: a mental health crisis.
Since the introduction of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s nine-point plan to reform the San Jose Police Department (SJPD) through “reimagining policing by disentangling police roles” in May 2020, increased support has been provided to specifically reimagine the role of police in mental health crises. A number of initiatives that aim to improve the police-mental health response have already been implemented in San Jose. Initiatives already in place in San Jose include mandating the introduction of Crisis Intervention Training as well as the roll-out of an SJPD specific Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT), details of which are expanded on in this paper.
The research presented in this paper focuses on first understanding the current role of the SJPD in mental health emergency response. Through this background research we identified three key stages of the mental health emergency workflow: (1) In-Bound Calls - the point from which the reporting person calls emergency services up until the dispatch of units on the scene (2) Units on Scene - the point at which emergency units arrive at the scene, up until the point at which a 5150 hold is deemed to be, or not be necessary, and (3) Post-Response - all events after the units leaves the scene.
Our research examines the effectiveness of current SJPD initiatives across these three stages. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, it then identifies best practices of police- mental health response for the SJPD to consider as key areas of opportunity.