Chief James Sartell is pleased to report that the Townsend Police Department has kept a pledge to improve its ability to respond to those with mental health conditions by completing the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s One Mind Campaign.
“Properly addressing mental health issues and crises within our community is a priority of the Townsend Police Department, and completing the One Mind Campaign was a major goal as we strive to improve our interactions,” said Chief Sartell. “I am proud of the officers and command staff who helped us make this a reality.”
The One Mind Campaign was started by the IACP, a professional association for law enforcement leaders that provides training, technical assistance and recruitment services, in 2016. The campaign was created by a panel of law enforcement and mental health experts in an effort to address law enforcement’s response to those affected by mental health conditions. More than 600 law enforcement agencies worldwide have completed the campaign.
Achieving the goals of the One Mind Campaign Pledge is a major milestone in a long-term community policing strategy that involves mobilizing the resources of the whole community to address mental health issues.
To complete the One Mind Pledge, Townsend Police established a sustainable partnership with a number of social service agencies and mental health programs, incorporated the use of a mental health clinician in the department, developed and implemented a model policy to address officers’ interactions with those affected by mental health conditions, and ensured that all officers and dispatchers received Mental Health First Aid training, with at least 20% of the department completing the more intensive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) or equivalent crisis response training.
Via the department’s partnership with COIN, a clinician holds office hours at the station and responds with officers to calls that have a mental health component in an effort to provide services when they are needed more than an arrest or involuntary commitment. COIN also helps the department make referrals to other agencies in instances of domestic violence, substance misuse, and other social service type issues.
Townsend Police also partnered with Restoration Recovery Center, Inc., and Family Continuity, both private, non-profit social service agencies focused on mental health and substance use recovery.
The One Mind Pledge gives participants up to three years to complete the pledge. Townsend Police began developing a comprehensive community mental health strategy in March of 2023, after they had already begun to develop relationships with several social services agencies.
The IACP provides resources to departments that pledge to join the One Mind Campaign, including a toolkit produced by the Bureau of Justice Assistance with resources for law enforcement agencies looking to partner with mental health providers, a model policy for law enforcement when responding to persons with mental health conditions, and resources for planning mental health first aid and CIT program trainings.
For more information about the One Mind Campaign, visit the IACP’s website at theiacp.org/projects/one-mind-campaign.
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