Outcomes from a randomized controlled trial of a co-response police-mental health team

Abstract

This report summarizes findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a police-mental health co-response team in Indianapolis, Indiana called the Mobile Crisis Assistance Team (MCAT). The MCAT consisted of one police officer and one mental health clinician who self-dispatched and co-responded to mental or behavioral health-related emergencies. Researchers worked with MCAT members, leadership, and community stakeholders to first conduct a formative evaluation of the MCAT upon its launch in 2017, followed by a quasi-experimental study that found promising preliminary results but indicated a need for a more rigorous study to assess program effectiveness. An RCT of the MCAT followed from January 2020 to March 2021 whereby behavioral health 911 calls for service were randomized 1-to-1 to receive either an MCAT response or a police-as-usual (or treatment-as-usual [TAU]) response. Key outcomes were count and binary variables representing subsequent emergency medical services (EMS) events, jail bookings, outpatient behavioral health treatment encounters, and emergency department (ED) visits at 6 and 12 months following the randomized crisis incident. In this report, we describe the study design and report outcome results, cost analyses, and MCAT team member and leadership perspectives on study involvement.