Mental health and economic impact of a police coresponder program for individuals in crisis in Miami-Dade County.

Abstract

The clinical and economic impact of a coresponder program was evaluated in a sample of 35 "high-utilizers" (defined as 3+ calls for service in a 6-month period for a behavioral health crisis requiring commitment per Florida's Baker Act statute) completing the program in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The final sample was predominately male (74%), White (83%), and Hispanic (83%), with an average age of 40 years. The program was associated with statistically significant improvements in all mental health functioning domains at the 6-month postenrollment follow-up, including reductions in violence risk, depressive symptoms, anger, and perceived stress, in addition to an increase in self-efficacy. High-utilizers experienced an average reduction of 2.43 calls for service from the 6-month period preenrollment to the 6-month period postprogram enrollment. In the 6-month period postenrollment, 65.7% no longer met high-utilizer criteria, and 82.9 no longer met high-utilizer criteria in the 6 months postprogram completion. All 35 individuals completing the program were referred to community-based mental health treatment with an average time from enrollment to attendance at their first appointment of about 25 days. High-utilizers were enrolled, on average, for 8.25 months, and for each person served, there was an estimated cost savings of $3,338 in reduced crisis stabilization services in the first 6 months postenrollment. Preliminary findings suggest the studied coresponder program is associated with significant estimated cost savings and reductions in 911 crisis calls, violence risk, depressive symptoms, anger, and perceived stress, in addition to improved self-efficacy, mental health functioning, and engagement in community-based mental health services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).