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Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) supports law enforcement, courts, corrections, treatment, victim services, technology, and prevention initiatives that strengthen the nation’s criminal justice system. BJA provides leadership, services, and funding to America’s communities by emphasizing local control, building relationships in the field, providing training and technical assistance in support of efforts to prevent crime, drug abuse, and violence at the national, state, and local levels, developing collaborations and partnerships, promoting capacity building through planning, streamlining the administration of grants, and other initiatives.
The BJA Policy Office provides national leadership in criminal justice policy, training, and technical assistance to further the administration of justice. It also acts as a liaison to national organizations that partner with BJA to set policy and help disseminate information on best and promising practices. The Policy Office consists of the Justice Information Sharing team, the Justice Systems team, the Law Enforcement & Adjudication team, and the Strategic Initiatives team.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) would like to acknowledge and thank staff from The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center—a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that combines the power of a membership association, representing state officials in all three branches of government, with policy and research expertise to develop strategies that increase public safety and strengthen communities—for their participation, contribution to the content of this site, and for supporting the successful launch of the Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit. The CSG Justice Center works to provide technical assistance and develops research-driven strategies to increase public safety and strengthen communities, including building connections between criminal justice agencies, behavioral health organizations, and the community to improve wellbeing for people with mental health conditions or co-occurring substance use disorders. Together, BJA and the CSG Justice Center strive to advance the use of evidence-based practices and policies to create a network of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers invested in improved responses to people with behavioral health needs.
Law Enforcement-Mental Health Learning Sites
Support jurisdictions in exploring strategies to improve the outcomes of encounters between law enforcement and people who have mental illnesses.
Contact Police Mental Health Collaboration
Please submit questions, policies and training materials that can benefit others for review and consideration.
Focused Tools for Law Enforcement
Many communities struggle with the PMHC program design process. Communities are unsure how to design and develop a PMHC program that meets their distinct needs and challenges. One way to increase knowledge of PMHCs, is to review programs that other jurisdictions have developed and tailor those programs to your specific community needs.
Law Enforcement agencies interested in expanding their knowledge base, starting, or enhancing a PMHC, can contact The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) or BJA’s Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Provider. BJA supports these urban and rural police departments to act as host-sites to visiting law enforcement agencies and their mental health partners.
- Arlington (MA) Police Department
- Bexar County (TX) Sheriff's Office
- Harris County (TX) Sheriff's Department
- Houston (TX) Police Department
- Los Angeles (CA) Police Department
- Madison County (TN) Sheriff's Office
- Madison (WI) Police Department
- Miami-Dade County (FL) Police Department
- Portland (ME) Police Department
- Salt Lake City (UT) Police Department
- Tucson (AZ) Police Department
- University of Florida Police Department
- Wichita (KS) Police Department
- Yavapai County (AZ) Justice & Mental Health Coalition
Located across the country, these learning sites represent a diverse cross-section of perspectives and program examples and are dedicated to helping other jurisdictions improve their responses to people with mental illnesses.
Opportunities
The fourteen learning sites host site visits from interested colleagues and other local and state government officials, answer questions from the field, and work with BJA’s TTA provider to develop materials for practitioners and their community partners.
TTA is provided to law enforcement agencies and their community partners in an effort to assist with the development or implementation of PMHC strategies. Supplemental funds can be made available to agencies that are interested in visiting the learning sites. This is a focused approach intended to provide your agency with access to outstanding peer resources for police-mental health collaboration programs.
To request TTA and receive confirmation within 36 hours of your request
Complete the TA request form.
For questions not addressed by the Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Site web page, contact [email protected]