Annotated Bibliographies

Cochran, S., Deane, M.W., & Borum, R. (2000). Improving police response to mentally ill people. Psychiatric Services, 51 (10), 1315-1316.

Lieutenant Cochran is the crisis intervention team coordinator of the Memphis Police Department, Ms. Deane is with the department of sociology at the State University of New York and the New York State Police Academy, and Dr. Borum is affiliated with the Florida Mental Health Institute. This article describes the development and operation of the Memphis crisis intervention team, a program for jail diversion and improvement of police response for mentally ill people in crisis. The team operates through a p artnership between the Memphis chapter of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the University of Memphis, and other local mental health providers. The program brings together law enforcement personnel and mental health professionals, consumers, and advocate s to improve understanding of, and safety and service to, people with mental illness and their families. It appears the Memphis program is effective in managing crisis calls with a lower arrest rate when compared with other communities without such a prog ram.