Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

An estimated 25 percent of detainees at Chicago’s Cook County Jail have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, with even larger numbers experiencing problematic substance use. As police officers are often first responders to individuals experiencing a mental health or behavioral crisis, Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) and other interventions were developed to train voluntary officers to safely respond and to connect these individuals to mental health services when appropriate. This process involves inter-organizational implementation of multiple emergency response professionals.

Evaluation research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of police response to individuals experiencing behavioral crisis. However, there has been little focus on evaluating the process of inter-organizational policy implementation. This qualitative analysis examines the process of inter-organizational implementation challenges, and the street-level discretion experienced by responding officers, dispatchers, mental health providers, and paramedics to provide appropriate interventions to individuals experiencing a mental health or behavioral crisis.