Letters: Police are the wrong people for crisis intervention

"Counselors earn advanced degrees and complete thousands of hours of supervised clinical work. SJPD officers have nowhere near that education or experience. This paper also previously reported that after SJPD made CIT mandatory, department statistics on injuries and deaths involving people in mental health or substance use crises worsened."

"If the goal is a safe and effective response to homelessness, mental health and substance use, a police-first model is the wrong approach. A behavioral health-led response staffed by clinicians and social workers would be more appropriate - and likely more cost-effective."

Police officers receive crisis intervention training that is fundamentally different from counselor education, which requires advanced degrees and thousands of supervised clinical hours. Data shows that after San Jose Police Department made crisis intervention training mandatory, statistics on injuries and deaths involving people in mental health or substance use crises worsened. A police-first model is ineffective for addressing homelessness, mental health, and substance use issues. Instead, a behavioral health-led response staffed by clinicians and social workers would provide safer, more effective interventions and likely prove more cost-effective. Homeless individuals experiencing mental health and substance use crises require specialized clinical care rather than police response.

Read at The Mercury News