By Thomas Moran
There have been some high-profile incidents of police violence and killings where the precipitating cause was a mental health issue. The Criminal Justice Reform Task Force has been working informally for more than one year to see what can be learned about these and many lesser-profile cases. The goal has been to determine whether and where a case can be made for moving greater resources to mental health interventions and moving some of those corresponding resources out of policing by force. The CJR-TF is forming a Policing and Mental Health Working Group tasked with gathering and analyzing data on policing and mental health.
Is there a path through data or some other means by which the CR-TF can bring light to these cases – what works and what does not work, for example? The NJ Arrive together program is forwarded as an effort in this direction. The Brookings Institution has a charge to analyze and report on data from the Arrive Together program. The CJR-TF wants to use data from this source and other sources to provide independent analysis of the problems and responses. Other organizations are working in the area of mental health and policing. The CJR-TF is working to build alliances with these organizations to share data and analyses.
UU FaithAction was among the many allies that pushed for passage of the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act. The Community Crisis Response Advisory Council has been formed, and the CJR-TF wants to be in a position to add data from that program to data from other programs in order to get the kind of comparison that will determine the path forward.
If you are interested in joining the effort to gather and analyze the data around community and police interventions in mental health crises, please let us know at criminaljustice@uufaithaction.org