This publication focusing on law enforcement is second in a series on rural community solutions to address substance abuse disorder as part of the Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project’s implementation of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM).
This brief examines how three Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project sites implement services that help reduce the number of arrests of people with substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental health disorders and direct them to the treatment services they need. This series explores how RROE project sites’ efforts aligned at each point of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) and the public safety/public health partnerships that strengthened these efforts. Intercept 1 of the SIM begins when law enforcement or first responders engage with a person who has an SUD or mental health disorder. Responses to individuals under Intercept 1 can be strengthened through dispatcher training about mental health and mental crises; specialized training to teach law enforcement officers how to identify the signs and symptoms of behavioral health issues; partnerships between law enforcement and behavioral health clinicians or case managers; and data sharing among law enforcement agencies, crisis services, hospitals, and other related organizations. The RROE project, co-funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the State Justice Institute, supported 21 rural sites across the country to develop or enhance efforts to strengthen epidemiologic surveillance and public health data infrastructure; implement effective community-level opioid overdose prevention activities; and establish or enhance public safety, public health, and behavioral health collaborations. The SIM delineates how individuals with mental health disorders and SUDs move through the criminal justice system. The purpose of the SIM is to help communities identify gaps in services at each of the six intercepts. The goal is to encourage collaboration among community leaders and stakeholders to work together to divert people with behavioral health issues away from the justice system and into a network of treatment alternatives.