Innovative Police-Fire collaboration enhancing community mental health services

Bellevue’s Community Crisis Assistance Team – an innovative collaboration between specially trained police officers and mental health professionals from the Fire Department – has helped more than 100 individuals in mental health crises stay out of the criminal justice system over the team’s first eight months of operation.

CCAT, a promising four-month pilot program in 2021, received permanent funding in September 2023 as part of the city’s 2023-24 budget. The program provides consistent and individualized care that helps individuals and families to achieve long-term stability.

“The data and firsthand accounts are sharing the good news; Bellevue’s Community Crisis Assistance Team is not only working, it’s saving lives,” said Police Chief Wendell Shirley. “CCAT is providing the kind of world-class service that continues to establish Bellevue as the place to work, play and live. The city has embraced CCAT, and both departments plan to take this effort to the next level as we provide people the life-saving mental health care services they need during times of crisis.”

Pairing specially trained, plain-clothes police officers with mental health professionals from the Fire Department’s Community Advocates for Referral and Education Services (CARES) program, CCAT effectively assist community members during times of crisis – particularly behavioral health emergencies – while also reducing the person’s chances of facing criminal charges, arrests, use of force and emergency room visits.

More than 140 individual cases opened by CARES were referred to CCAT during the first eight months of the permanent program. This includes 484 behavioral health calls and 124 calls involving the topic of suicide.

Calls relayed to CCAT often involve de-escalation or diversion that have prevented crimes or threats to an individual’s health, while protecting the community’s overall wellbeing. This includes 27 diversions from criminal charges, 25 diversions from arrest, eight diversions from incarceration, 24 diversions from use of force, and 25 diversions from unnecessary emergency room visits.

Community members are encouraged to call 988 instead of 911 if someone is experiencing a mental health emergency.

The Bellevue Police and Fire departments plan to host advanced crisis negotiation training for CCAT and provide basic training to all firefighters and police officers to prepare them to address less serious behavioral health-related calls. Further, the city is recruiting an opioid outreach crisis response social worker to join the CCAT and CARES teams.