Letters: Police are the wrong people for crisis intervention

"Counselors earn advanced degrees and complete thousands of hours of supervised clinical work. SJPD officers have nowhere near that education or experience. This paper also previously reported that after SJPD made CIT mandatory, department statistics on injuries and deaths involving people in mental health or substance use crises worsened."

"If the goal is a safe and effective response to homelessness, mental health and substance use, a police-first model is the wrong approach. A behavioral health-led response staffed by clinicians and social workers would be more appropriate and likely more cost-effective."

A letter challenges the comparison between police crisis intervention training and counselor qualifications, noting that counselors earn advanced degrees and complete thousands of supervised clinical hours while police officers lack equivalent education and experience. The writer references previous reporting showing that mandatory crisis intervention training at San Jose Police Department correlated with worsened statistics on injuries and deaths involving people in mental health or substance use crises. The letter advocates for a behavioral health-led response model staffed by clinicians and social workers instead of a police-first approach to address homelessness, mental health, and substance use issues, arguing this alternative would be more appropriate and likely more cost-effective.

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