Crisis Intervention and

Behavioral Health

Sergeant Catherine CummingsIndianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

Behavioral Health Unit

Detective Lance DardeenIndianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

Behavioral Health Unit

IMPD Behavioral Health Unit• Five officers assigned to five of the six service

districts

• Each partnered with a clinician from Eskenazi Health – Midtown

• Created to support social expectations of local policing – started working June 2016

• Not a grant funded program

• Roles- Follow ups, training, community education

Perfect Storms

•Trend of using jail and public safety to respond to mental health crisis

•Managed care, insurance changes payments

•Recession & state budgets•Aging institutions•Affordability of street drugs-opioids

Law Enforcement Interaction and

the Available Resources for

Response• Arrest

• Immediate Detention

• Understanding the crisis

• Reuben Engagement Center

• The role of specialty courts

• Tracking the numbers – How?

Statistics on Mental Illness and Law

Enforcement

• According to The Washington Post, United States Law Enforcement shot and killed 991 people – 254 (25.6%) displayed signs of mental illness (unknown definition) 737 displayed no signs or were listed as unknown (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/)

• BHU use of force numbers

• Immediate Detentions with Criminal Charges

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Law-Enforcement-and-Mental-Health

The Human Side of Mental Illness

and Substance Addiction – Personal

Stories of BHU

• Lavonnie, 51, is a woman who is living with schizophrenia

• Pembroke, 60, is a man living with alcoholism

• Al, 53, is a man living with schizophrenia and TBI

• Desiree, 53, is a woman living with schizophrenia

Questions???Sergeant Catherine Cummings

catherine.cummings@indy.gov

Detective Lance Dardeen

lance.dardeen@indy.gov