BJA FY 22 Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program

The City of Tulsa’s Police Department (TPD) (Applicant/Law Enforcement Agency) in partnership with Family & Children’s Services (FCS) (Subawardee/Mental Health Agency) requests $550,000 in federal funds to design and implement a Police -Mental Health Collaboration (PMHC) The PMHC is a response model that pairs trained police officers with licensed mental health professionals to respond to 911 calls involving individuals experiencing mental health crises in the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma (Population 413,066. White: 63.3%, Black, 15%, Indigenous 4.5%, Asian, 3.5%, Hawaiian/PI 0.1%, Two or more races 8.9%, Hispanic/Latino 17.1%, Not Hispanic 53.4%). The City of Tulsa is not a previous recipient of a Connect and Protect grant award.

Upon completion of the 6-month planning phase and development of a Planning and Implementation Guide with BJA Technical Assistance, the project will embed a Licensed Mental Health Professionals (LMHP), into each of the City’s three Patrol Divisions (Mingo Valley Division, Gilcrease Division, and Riverside Divisions).

The LMHPs will build working relationships and provide crisis & mental health response training to patrol officers, enhancing their capabilities & skills to respond to mental health related calls more effectively. Therapists will co-respond to calls made during the hours of 1:30 pm to 10:30 pm Monday through Friday, which historical data shows to be hours with the highest mental health call volume. Program evaluation will be provided by OSU-Tulsa to collect program data and evaluate successful achievement of established goals, objectives, and outcomes.

This project will reduce pressure on the criminal justice system as well as reduce the amount of time spent by law enforcement officers on scene when responding to a mental health crisis by diverting individuals from arrest and jail as well as reducing unnecessary utilization of emergency departments through immediate connectivity to ongoing mental health services. This collaboration will provide immediate crisis stabilization and linkage to follow up and longer-term supports.

TPD is seeking the following Priority Considerations for this proposal (Narrative pg. 10)

(1) OJP Exec. Order 13985 to address removal of barriers/inequities to marginalized comm.
(2) Strategies to reduce risk of harm to ind. w/ MHD’s/MHSUDs
(3) Interventions to reduce recidivism.