Social Workers’ Experiences with Police Partnerships in Mental Health Calls for Service: A Qualitative Analysis of a Co-Responder Model of Policing

Abstract

As a result of the systematic dismantling of the mental health care system in the United States, responsibility for people experiencing mental health emergencies has transferred from mental health care professionals to law enforcement officers. Due to this blending of the mental health system with the criminal justice system, people with untreated mental illness are disproportionately arrested, incarcerated, and fatally shot by law enforcement. In response to the need to provide appropriate mental health treatment for people in crisis, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Police Department (UIPD) created the Response, Evaluation, and Crisis Help (REACH) Program, a collaborative team that brings police officers and social workers together to co-respond to mental health-related calls for service. While some research exists on the implementation of co-responder models of policing in local law enforcement agencies, there is a gap in the literature on co-responder models in a college and university settings, where students often find themselves in crisis during times when mental health services are unavailable. Drawing from qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews from a sample (n = 4) of social workers, the current work examines the experiences of mental health professionals operating alongside law enforcement officers in response to people experiencing mental health crises on a university campus. Implications for public policy are addressed.