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

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2021 · $620,550

## Abstract

Fragmentation between mental health (MH) and criminal justice (CJ) systems leads to many persons with
serious mental illnesses (SMI) being arrested/incarcerated when MH treatment would be more appropriate.
The “criminalization” of such individuals is an extensively documented problem across the U.S. As shown by
the Sequential Intercept Model, the main point of intervention within the CJ system to prevent unnecessary
arrest/incarceration is the initial encounter between an officer and a person with SMI. This R01 study aims to
test the effectiveness of a new police–MH linkage system that, through a prior NIMH R34 project, was shown
to be feasible to implement and study, and to have high acceptability among end-users. Our linkage system
consists of 3 steps. First, individuals with SMI and a history of CJ involvement give special consent to be
included in a database in the state’s CJ information system, and consent for an officer to have a telephone
conversation with a Linkage Specialist at the local public MH system where they are or were in treatment.
Second, when an officer runs an enrolled participant’s name or identifiers as part of an inquiry (similar to a
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. R34 findings indicated that in some cases when an arrest is not obligatory, the officer chose to
refer to or transport to MH services instead of making an arrest (and in a number of cases the subject was
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), as well as 4 public MH agencies
covering 25 counties in Georgia, we will conduct a randomized trial of the linkage system involving 1,600
outpatients with SMI. We will test the hypotheses that patients randomized to the linkage system (as compared
to those randomized to a database that does not generate the MH notice and phone number) 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). We will examine effects of 4 potential moderators:
urban v. rural patient site, male v. female sex of the patient, psychotic v. mood disorder, and lower v. higher
likelihood of arrest (based on lifetime history of arrests adjusted for age). Once a patient is enrolled into the
linkage system, its mechanics are straightforward, and 2 key targets are verifiable. That is, we will show that
Target 1 (an electronic “hit” to the database) and Target 2 (the Linkage Specialist rece...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10163267
- **Project number:** 5R01MH117191-04
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL T COMPTON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $620,550
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-07 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10163267

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10163267, A Trial of a Police-Mental Health Linkage System for Jail Diversion and Reconnection to Care (5R01MH117191-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10163267. Licensed CC0.

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