ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND HEADLINES CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY CRISIS RESPONSE

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ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND HEADLINES CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY CRISIS RESPONSE

“Taking the Call” Event Highlights Strategies for Reducing Arrests and Improving Public Health and Safety

          WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick B. Garland today joined Department of Justice officials and local and national leaders at the “Taking the Call” Conference, where participants are exploring innovations in community crisis response programs. The event, which runs today and tomorrow, is bringing together more than 2,500 law enforcement professionals, mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers, advocates for individuals experiencing homelessness and representatives of community agencies to discuss effective strategies for answering emergency calls.

          “The burden of responding to crises has always rested on the shoulders of law enforcement officers, even though many emergencies – from drug overdoses to episodes involving psychiatric distress – need the attention of trained behavioral health specialists,” said Kristen Mahoney, Acting Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a division of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs. “Communities across the country are now seeing these calls as opportunities for intervention and treatment rather than purely as law-and-order matters. We are grateful to our partners, and to public safety and public health professionals nationwide, for their willingness to collaborate with one another and find solutions that benefit individual and community health.”

         The two-day virtual conference, presented by BJA, the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the University of Cincinnati, is showcasing innovative models for handling emergency calls, particularly calls for service involving mental health or substance use crises, homelessness, quality-of-life issues and other low-level situations. Attorney General Garland, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and BJA Acting Director Mahoney are joining CSG leaders and other nationally recognized experts to discuss alternatives to armed police encounters, which increases the chances of violent confrontations. Community responder models are often staffed by treatment providers and other health professionals who may be dispatched separately or alongside law enforcement on 911 calls.

          Through its Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program, BJA has invested more than $164 million in programs that help communities build interventions in which the criminal justice system and health and social service systems can work together to divert people with mental health and substance use conditions away from the justice system and into systems that can respond appropriately to their needs. BJA also launched a new program this year called Connect and Protect to help law enforcement and behavioral health professionals develop effective crisis response strategies.

          “The Attorney General’s participation in Taking the Call is an exciting statement of the Administration’s commitment to reforming community crisis systems in this country,” said Megan Quattlebaum, Director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center. “We feel fortunate that DOJ’s efforts enjoy bipartisan support in Congress, as reflected through the funding it has provided to the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and related efforts. We are honored to have Attorney General Garland and other senior leaders from DOJ as keynote speakers, and look forward to bringing together partners and champions from all 50 states.”

         The conference is free and open to the public, although registration is required. Visit here to register.