# A Trial of a Police-Mental Health Linkage System for Jail Diversion and Reconnection to Care

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $124,201

## Abstract

The “criminalization” of persons with serious mental illnesses (SMI) is an extensively documented problem
across the U.S. Our ongoing R01 is testing the effectiveness of a new police–mental health (MH) “Linkage
System” that, through a prior NIMH R34 project, was shown to be feasible to implement and acceptable to end-
users. The Linkage System consists of 3 steps. First, individuals with SMI and a history of criminal justice (CJ)
involvement give special consent to be included in a database in the state’s CJ information system, and
consent for CJ personnel to have a telephone conversation with a Linkage Specialist at the local public MH
system where they are in treatment. Second, when an officer runs an enrolled participant’s name or identifiers
as part of an inquiry / background check during an encounter, the officer receives an electronic message that
the person is in MH treatment, and to call a number for more information. Third, the Linkage Specialist, who is
a licensed MH professional, receives the call and assists the officer by thinking through observed behaviors
and potential resolutions. In some cases when an arrest is not obligatory, the officer may choose to refer to or
transport to MH services instead of making an arrest (and in a number of cases the individual is reconnected to
care) because of the information provided. Partnering with our CJ partner, Georgia Bureau of Investigation
(which houses Georgia’s CJ databases/information system), and 4 public MH agencies covering 25 counties in
Georgia, we are conducting a randomized trial of the Linkage System involving 1,600 outpatients with SMI. We
are testing the hypotheses that those randomized to the Linkage System will: (1) be less likely to be arrested,
(2) have fewer arrests (both based on administrative (rap sheet) data provided by GBI), and (3) be less likely to
have gaps in outpatient MH services, as evidenced by fewer absences from care of >3 months (based on data
from the MH agencies’ EMRs). In this Administrative Supplement for Research on Bioethical Issues, we will
expand the team to include Dr. Appelbaum (ethics and forensic psychiatry expert), Dr. Dixon (mental health
services delivery expert), and Dr. Pope (qualitative research expert) as Co-Is for the 1-year Supplement period.
We seek supplemental funds to conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with 25 R01 participants for whom the
Linkage System was activated (and 18–25 of their close family members) to address three inter-related
bioethical concerns. (1) We will conduct an in-depth assessment of the decision-making process during
informed consent to better understand patients’ views about MH–CJ information sharing. (2) We will assess
patients’ and family members’ views of privacy/confidentiality with regard to the Linkage System and other
forms of MH–CJ information sharing. (3) We will explore patients’ and family members’ benefit/risk perceptions
pertaining to the Linkage System intervention, and MH–CJ information sh...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10131348
- **Project number:** 3R01MH117191-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL T COMPTON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $124,201
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-07 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10131348

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10131348, A Trial of a Police-Mental Health Linkage System for Jail Diversion and Reconnection to Care (3R01MH117191-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10131348. Licensed CC0.

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