Buffalo auto thefts have risen 135%. St. Paul's coordinated approach led to a big drop

The Sacramento Police Department installed 175 cameras throughout the city to read license plates and help solve car theft crimes. The cameras and accompanying AI technology alert nearby officers when a vehicle of interest is identified, resulting in more arrests and solved car thefts than the national average.

Cities with sanctuary policies, which grew out of the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with immigration agents. Original sanctuary efforts led by churches and religious clergy helped protect more than 1,500 Central American refugees, and echoes of this movement can be seen in efforts to resist ICE operations today.

Waukesha County law enforcement departments are receiving Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training through the National Alliance on Mental Illness to teach them how to recognize and respond to people experiencing mental health crises by safely de-escalating the situations and connecting the people to resources and care, rather than jail and hospital stays. As of 2023, hundreds of officers in at least 19 counties have been CIT trained.

The Campus Assessment & Stabilization Team (CAST) assists the University Police Department in mental health-related emergency and non-emergency calls, both on and off campus. CAST consists of a team of social workers who assist law enforcement in handling calls, particularly those where a person is experiencing an emotional crisis.

The Frederick Police Department’s Crisis Response Team combines law enforcement with paramedics and mental health professionals to respond to calls. The team can showcase each person’s expertise as needed, providing more individualized care when responding to mental health emergency calls.

The Durango Police Department and Axis Health System teamed up to form the Co-Responder Program, which provides a more nuanced response for police calls that deal with mental health, addiction, and homelessness, by sending mental health professionals along with law enforcement on calls. The program has responded to 1,419 calls since June 2021 and has been so successful that it’s expanding to other areas.

The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) team aims to help people experiencing mental health crises without resorting to force or arrests. The CARE team is a three-person model including a paramedic, clinician, and police officer. Since September 2021, the team has responded to calls about 440 times, none of which have included force or arrests.

Since 2018, Santa Barbara County’s co-response teams have paired a Department of Behavioral Wellness clinician with trained law enforcement to respond to 9-1-1 calls related to a mental health crisis. The pair work together to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and arrests for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

County’s police chiefs are joining forces with local mental-health experts to devise a countywide collaboration to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the mental-health system by creating a four-pillar approach to crisis intervention training. Each pillar is designed to handle a different issue and build resources within the community to help those in need.

The St. Paul Police Department is one of a growing number of such departments which have integrated training in Brazilian jiujitsu for officers as a way to reduce not just civilian injuries but also the amount of money spent on lawsuit settlements as a result of police misconduct.