Attorney General Loretta Lynch this week announced the Justice Department’s new online mental health initiative.
Speaking at the International Association of Police Chiefs’ annual conference in San Diego, Lynch announced the new Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit, which will give law enforcement departments resources on how to police people in mental health crises.
“This toolkit is designed to be a one-stop learning center to help departments craft comprehensive responses, offering guidance on everything from building relationships with behavioral health agencies to educating officers to be safe in encounters with people in mental health crisis,” Lynch said in prepared remarks.
The new toolkit is being created in coordination with the group’s “One Mind” campaign, which partners law enforcement and mental health agencies to train officers in crisis intervention.
“Once again, we have turned to you, and I am hopeful that together, our efforts will improve officer safety and bolster law enforcement’s capacity to get individuals with mental illness the help they need and deserve,” Lynch said.
According to a study released in March by the Ruderman Family Foundation, individuals with a disability such as a mental illness “make up a third to half of all people killed by law enforcement officers.”
