Chaffey Community College - BJA FY 22 Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program

Program Sponsor: U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

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

Law Enforcement Applicant: Chaffey College Police Department (CCPD)

Mental Health Services: San Bernardino Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), College Wrap; University of California (USC) School of Social Work

Dollar(s) Requested: $550,000

The Chaffey College Police Department (CCPD) provides public safety and security for over 20,000 students, plus faculty and staff. Chaffey College has 3 campuses, satellite facilities, and land for future growth, including a new Fontana campus and Ontario campus.  To address growing concerns with mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse challenges that not only can become viable threats to our campus community, issues that can stand in the way of the most important part of this conversation, student success.  Chaffey College established a Behavior Intervention Team (BIT) in 2008 to address students of concern. This past year, despite COVID challenges with very limited in-person students and staff, Chaffey Colleges’ BIT reported 222 cases. The anticipated re-emergence of full in-person participation at all Chaffey College campuses is potentially in the near future.

CCPD will be applying for a request for proposal (RFP) from the DOJ/OJP/BJA FY 22 Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program. CCPD in collaboration with Mental Health partners, will enhance our School Threat Assessment Crisis Response, called the Higher Education Assessment Team (HEAT), established February 14, 2022. 

If awarded, the CCPD, in partnership with the San Bernardino DBH and USC, will fund a HEAT crisis response and threat assessment team, which would include CCPD officer(s), a full-time dedicated clinician and part-time intelligence analyst(s). Also, provide needed training and outreach for the entire College community.

This collaborative team will provide proactive assessment, intervention, early screening and identification, case management and monitoring, training and program consultation for our college community and its partners. The team will work together in partnership with the BIT team to identify the needs of students and other persons of concern. The HEAT response team’s main purpose is to ensure student success and enhance campus safety by identifying potential mental health threats to the campus and mitigating them. The HEAT team intervenes before the behavior escalates due to untreated mental health challenges. The team will also refer to appropriate service providers to meet the students' needs.