Connect and Protect: Integrating Law Enforcement and Mental Health Services for Safer Communities in South Central Alabama

According to the U.S. Census, the population estimates for Covington County was 37,567 in 2022. Approximately 7,000 Covington County residents (18.8%) live at or below 100% of the federal poverty guideline. There is greater need and demand for behavioral health care in Covington County, especially among low-income and vulnerable populations. In 2023, the afterhours helpline took 451 crisis calls, of which 237 (or 53%) required a face-to-face evaluation. In Covington County more broadly, close to one-quarter of residents (23.0%) have ever been diagnosed with depression—a rate higher than across the state (22.3%), or nation (19.5%). Moreover, intentional self-harm (suicide) was the fourteenth cause of death in the county with 16.8 deaths per 100,000—a rate higher than Alabama (16.4) and the U.S. (14.4).

The South Central Alabama Mental Health Board, Inc. proposes to implement the Connect and Protect: Integrating Law Enforcement and Mental Health Services for Safer Communities in South Central Alabama program. The purpose of this program is to enhance public health and safety by improving responses to and outcomes for individuals with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in Covington County, Alabama.

Project activities include planning multidisciplinary stakeholder teams, convening regular advisory group meetings, developing crisis response programs, establishing common metrics for call tracking, enhancing officer skills in responding to individuals with mental health or substance use disorders, training staff for crisis response, integrating successful Police-Mental Health Collaboration strategies, improving veteran-specific service provision, upgrading technology usage, implementing local crisis helpline, offering mobile crisis response services, providing referrals to health and community resources, fostering positive community relations, conducting program evaluation, and collecting and reporting data. There are no planned conference activities for the recommended award.