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More recently, there is interest in taking a public health approach to community and individual safety, especially for individuals in behavioral health crises. One approach is police-led deflection to Crisis Stabilization Units (CSUs) or similar programs in the local community. In 2011, Pima County, Arizona built the Crisis Response Center (CRC), an example of a CSU, as an alternative to sending people experiencing a behavioral health crisis to jail or emergency rooms. The CRC uses a "no wrong door" policy which means they will accept any person for nearly any reason (other than individuals who require emergent hospitalization such as broken bones) and accepts individuals brought to them by all police departments in the county -- known as a deflection to the CRC.

JSP recently completed a study about the impacts of police-led deflection on subsequent deflections to Pima County's CRC. The study found that individuals deflected to the CRC more than once often stayed longer each subsequent deflection, this was especially true for Black individuals and individuals diagnosed with substance use disorder. This suggests the need for deflection policies that allow repeat deflections for the same people to increase exposure to services. 

Read more about the CSU and deflection practices in Pima County, Arizona (attached). This brief is one of a six-handout series unpacking police-led deflection and the learnings from this study.