Burbank Police Department MHET Evaluation

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

The Burbank Police Department (BPD) in Burbank, CA identified that a substantial portion of its patrol personnel and resources were routed to calls for service regarding persons with mental illness. In 2012, to address the inefficient use of resources and to enhance officer safety with high-risk individuals with suspected mental illness, BPD implemented the Mental Health Evaluation Team (MHET). This co-response model currently pairs a specially trained patrol officer and a Los Angeles County Mental Health Clinical Psychologist. Together, they offer specialized patrol support, training, and crisis intervention response to the Burbank community. This poster presents preliminary results from a program evaluation of the MHET, which involved qualitative, quantitative, and field research methodologies. The purpose of this evaluation was to provide BPD with empirical evidence that the MHET continues to meet its enumerated goals, and to add to the growing body of evaluation literature involving crisis intervention co-response models.

Author

• Michelle Summer Iacoboni, California State University, Long Beach