Baltimore County Launches Mental Health Crisis Team Initiative

Baltimore County, Md., on July 24 "officially launched" a program that will address mental health emergencies before they become "crises" by pairing police officers with social workers, the Baltimore Sun reports. These "crisis response teams" will be trained to handle people with mental illnesses, and the police officers will not be in uniform when responding to calls. The Sun reports that police have become the "first-line response" to mental health emergencies, such as suicide threats or violence, since the deinstitutionalization movement began 30 years ago. The program, which will cost $1.15 million per year to operate, was prompted by a review of the county police department's resources to handle situations involving the mentally ill after a mentally ill man's "rampage" last year that left four dead. County Police Department Lt. Mel Blizzard, who will head the program, said that having officers work with clinical workers will "make the system safer and more effective." He added, "We want to develop a better client relationship so people are not just going to look at the police officer and say, 'All he's going to do is lock me up.'" Dr. Michelle Leverett, director of the county Health Department, said the program will help families "evaluate" how to help a family member who is behaving "erratically" (Green, Baltimore Sun, 7/25).