Specialized Policing Responses:
Law Enforcement/Mental Health Learning Sites
Jurisdictions across the country are exploring strategies to improve the
outcomes of encounters between law enforcement and people with
mental disorders. These efforts took root in the late 1980s, with the
emergence of crisis intervention teams and co-response models. As a
growing number of communities engage in the development of
specialized policing responses (SPR), many grapple with the program
design process, and are unsure how to tailor models from other
jurisdictions to best fit their distinct circumstances.
In an effort to expand the knowledge base for law enforcement agencies interested in starting or enhancing a
specialized police response, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Department of
Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center selected six
police departments from across the country to act as national law enforcement/mental health learning sites.
These learning sites represent a diverse cross-section of perspectives and program examples, and are
dedicated to helping other jurisdictions across the country improve their responses to people with mental
illnesses.
University of Florida Police Department
Total number of agency personnel: 163
Sworn: 90
Civilian: 73
Total population served: 80,000 students, staff, faculty, and visitors
Jurisdiction and state: University of Florida
Program Highlights
• Comprehensive collaboration among many critical campus entities
• Collaboration with county law enforcement agencies
The University of Florida Police Department (UFPD) is a campus law enforcement agency that has, for the
last two decades, incorporated mental health crisis training into its in-service training programs for all sworn
staff. This training, conducted along with staff from the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness
Center, has long served as a cornerstone of the department’s specialized response to people in mental health
distress. Since 2004, UFPD officers have also participated in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) programs and
have collaborated with Counseling and Wellness Center staff to formalize the use of on-call crisis intervention
consultants (CICs) to respond to people in mental distress who reside in housing facilities on campus.
The police department also employs a crisis response team (CRT), created by the university’s Dean of
Students Office, to provide a collaborative response when there is an incident on campus. The group is
comprised of university mental health counselors, administrators, campus ministry representatives, and other
administrative staff, and assist officers by providing on-site counseling and administrative needs coordination.
Finally, a behavioral consultation team (BCT) meets once a week to share relevant information regarding the
criminal, judicial, and mental health history of individual students, staff, and faculty (when not prohibited by
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other confidentiality requirements), as well as any
activity perceived as either posing a direct threat to the community or deemed disruptive. At present,
membership on the BCT is restricted to staff from the UFPD and the university’s Counseling and Wellness
Center, the Department of Housing and Residence Education, Human Resources, the Dean of Students
Office, and the General Counsel’s office. The assessment information discussed at these meetings is readily
made available to UFPD officers in the field to help them better respond to calls for service.
To learn more about the University of Florida Police Department and its initiatives,
please contact:
Name
William “Brad” Barber
Title
Major
Address
P.O. Box 112150, Gainesville, FL 32611-2150
Phone
(352) 273-3309
E-mail
wbarber@ufl.edu
To learn more about the Law Enforcement/Mental Health Learning Sites, please visit
csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/learning-sites/ or contact Nicola Smith-Kea at nsmithkea@csg.org or
(240) 915-9718.