Assessing the capability of a co-responding police-mental health program to connect emotionally disturbed people with community resources and decrease police use-of-force

Objectives The objective of the study is to assess the capability of a mobile crisis intervention team (MCIT) to connect emotionally disturbed people (EDP) with community resources and decrease police use-of-force. Method In order to have equivalent groups, interventions managed by the MCIT were matched to incidents handled by traditional police officers with similar propensity scores. Results Average treatment effects (ATEs) were computed to assess the impact of the MCIT. The MCIT was associated with decreases in police use-of-force (ATE = - 0.08;p <= 0.01), EDP transported to the hospital against their will (ATE = - 0.06;p <= 0.10), and EDP transported to the hospital in general (ATE = - 0.42;p <= 0.01). EDP were more likely to be referred to community resources (ATE = 0.19;p <= 0.01) or managed by their social network (ATE = 0.22;p <= 0.01) when the MCIT was involved in the intervention. Conclusion The MCIT was effective in connecting EDP with community resources, avoiding unnecessary transports to the hospital, and reducing police use-of-force.