System-wide Mental Assessment Response Team
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office is creating a co-responder team. The System-wide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) consists of two-person teams comprised of a law enforcement officer and a behavioral health specialist to intervene on mental health-related police calls, to de-escalate situations that have historically resulted in arrest or hospitalization and to assess whether the person should be referred for an immediate behavioral health assessment.
The SMART Team will assist jurisdictional law enforcement and emergency services whenever they contact persons with a suspected mental illness. Provide intervention, referral, or placement for a person with mental illness to facilitate the speedy return of jurisdictional law enforcement and emergency services personnel to other field duties. Prevent unnecessary incarceration and/or hospitalization of persons with mental illness. Provide alternate care in the least restrictive environment through a coordinated and comprehensive system-wide approach. Assist with intelligence functions at critical incidents. Assist with psychologically impaired victims at disaster scenes.
The SMART Team is designed to address the unique mental health needs of the community. It provides a wide variety of specialized skills, services, and response capabilities reflecting the intersection of Summit County’s diverse community and its relationship to mental health. The components of the system reflect a continuum of care from crisis response through stabilization and safe return to the community, with adequate support for transitions to each stage for individuals experiencing a behavioral health emergency.
