Bernalillo County, New Mexico: Mobile Crisis Teams

Location

• City: Bernalillo County, NM (includes Albuquerque)
• Population Size: 679,121
• Jurisdiction Size: 1,160.83 sq miles

Intercept

• 0 – MCT/Peer-based community outreach teams, MCT
• 1 – EMCT

CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) Requirements

• All Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Officers are CIT trained- DOJ came in 2015 due to an incident so they have a consent decree requiring improvement in interaction with MH population (including 100% CIT trained officers)
• Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) also has CIT officers and an active Crisis Intervention Unit

Model Components

• Area of Jurisdiction
  • Bernalillo County (including children, adolescents and adults)
• Staffing Structure
  • Law enforcement MCT – CIT Officer and independently licensed clinician- ride in same vehicle
  • Non-law enforcement MCT – independently licensed clinician with Fire Department paramedic (nationally registered)
  • Officers are assigned to MCT randomly and reevaluated based on team dynamic
  • Have peer-based community engagement teams – intended to intervene pre- and post- crisis.
  • MCT’s are active during peak Behavioral Health times calls as determined by 911 APD and BCSO data. Times are assessed every 6 months.
• Staff Training/Qualifications
  • MCT Officer is CIT (40 hours) and ECIT (8 hours) trained
• Dispatch Structure
  • Direct dispatch + calls from officers currently on scene
  • Call takers get 20-hour ECIT training
  • Dispatchers learn to differentiate calls for MCT/CET
  • Non-law enforcement MCT is not a primary response – first responders on the scene must request them
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Operating Structure

• • Operations
    • Respond to priority 1 and 2 calls
    • Respond via a scene request (non-law enforcement MCT)
    • 20 minutes or less response time Law enforcement MCT can do involuntary transport, Non-law enforcement cannot do involuntary but do voluntary transports
    • Have a lot of community involvement- have a subcommittee for this project- they have an advisory committee that came up with this project
  • Funding Mechanisms
    • $1 Million a year- covers the cost of clinicians, deputies, and paramedics
    • (BH Tax Fund) City tax money goes towards this-$22.5 million per year generated (City/county funded)
  • MOU/Contracting
    • MOU with FD/ BCSO and COA
  • Management Structure
    • Managed by County department of BH Services, City of Albuquerque Community Safety Department
  • Supplies/Equipment
    • Non-law enforcement- Fleet vehicle- marked
    • Non-law enforcement Non-traditional fire Polo shirt (Fire employees)
    • All wear under the clothing bullet proof vests
    • Clinicians have bold letters “Clinicians” on back
    • Officers wear dress-down uniforms

Data Systems & Collection

• Data Collection:
  • Contracted to develop a data base (sent us a screenshot of database to show fields)
  • Had difficulty matching BH/law enforcement data- are now using a call ID number to match them
• Data Collection:
  • Monthly reports from county and city dispatch

Key Takeaways

• So much/ongoing community engagement – it is a community-led initiative