Evaluating the Impact of Burlington's Mental Health Co-Responder Program

Earlier this month, the School of Government's Criminal Justice Innovation Lab released our final report evaluating the Burlington Police Department’s mental health co-responder program. This report is the culmination of a two-year partnership between the School, the Burlington Police Department, RHA Health Services, and the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police. The evaluation speaks to the impact of the co-responder program on the police department, the clients served, and the broader community. We also included recommendations on data collection for other agencies that may be interested to conduct similar evaluations. This post summarizes the findings and the recommendations. About the Program The Burlington Police Department established their Law Enforcement Crisis Counselor (LECC) program in 2015. The crisis counselor, a trained mental health professional who is embedded in the police department, has three primary functions: Co-responding on scene to calls related to behavioral health crises and other social issues. After responding to a call, determining that an individual is in crisis, and securing the scene, an officer may request the crisis counselor co-respond to the call. Providing real-time consultation to officers remotely. The crisis counselor may be called upon to assist officers remotely if the situation does not require an in-person co-response. For example, an officer might call for consultation if they are interacting with someone they know is currently connected with the crisis counselor or has been in the past Connecting individuals to services in response to referrals. Officers often make after-the-fact referrals to the crisis counselor if they interact [...]