Vallejo Police Department Community Mobile Mental Health Response Unit Pilot Program

The City of Vallejo IHART Proposal Abstract:

Target Area: The City of Vallejo

Population: 124,886

Purpose: The Vallejo Integrated Health and Resource Team will provide the residents of the City of Vallejo with trauma-informed response to mental and behavioral health- and social services-related calls, reducing the role of police for these calls, improve outcomes for individuals experiencing mental health- and social services-related crises, and provide the Vallejo Police Department with the capacity to respond to violent crime. 

The City of Vallejo Police Department (VPD)’s Integrated Health and Resource Team (IHART) will provide trauma-informed response and linkages to social services over arrest in Vallejo, California, through the VPD and its community partners. IHART will operate a 24/7/365 mobile crisis response that will serve the target area of the entire City of Vallejo and will be deployed by VPD dispatch. IHART will be staffed by one crisis counselor and an EMT or nurse will respond to an incident to work on de-escalation, social work, interventions, mediation amongst family members who are fighting, and suicide assessments and interventions. Primary activities will include responding to a variety of social service calls using trauma informed, de-escalation, and harm reduction techniques. IHART members will be equipped to better respond to individuals experiencing mental health crises, as well as those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Utilizing VPD’s dispatch centers, Vallejo residents experiencing mental health or social services-related crises can be expected to benefit from the implementation of this program, as IHART will remove potential triggers and escalation risks by replacing law enforcement officers with crisis workers and medical professionals and linkages to civilians with lived experience. IHART will also be equipped to provide referrals and connections to additional relevant providers and additional stakeholders that include mental health care providers, inpatient referrals, outpatient services, homelessness service providers, linkages to shelters and housing navigation for clients experiencing homelessness, substance abuse disorder providers, and linkages to other basic needs and community supports.