Grants to Improve Police Response to Mental Health Emergencies

Applications are now being accepted for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Program’s (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Initiative to Improve Law-Enforcement Based Responses to People with Mental Health Disorders and Intellectual Development Disabilities (IDD).

Mental Health Response by Law Enforcement

More than 10% of calls to law enforcement seek assistance with someone who suffers from a severe mental illness, and 87% more resources are used on calls that include individuals with a mental illness.

In addition, people with mental illness or IDD are two-and-a-half times more likely to be victims of violent crimes . Appropriately training law enforcement to respond to crimes against these individuals can help reduce the risk of violence for both, and improve the quality of life for the victims.

Improve Police Response to Mental Health Emergencies

The competitive BJA grant aims to help reduce crime and lower recidivism rates among people with mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities and improve police response to mental health emergencies. This includes training law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies on how to respond to certain situations.

Successful applicants will be able to demonstrate previous training and technical assistance (TTA) experience at the national level.

Applications are due by June 13.

Apply for a BJA grant online at grants.gov.