The Bellevue Fire and Police Departments’ Community Crisis Assistance Team (CCAT) has diverted more than 100 individuals from the criminal justice system in the last eight months thanks to their specialized training to address behavioral health emergencies across the community.
The Team pairs specially trained Bellevue Police Officers with mental health professionals from the Fire Department’s Community Advocates for Referral and Educations Services (CARES) program to respond to calls related to behavioral health crises. The program launched as a pilot in 2021 and has since received permanent funding support given its success in providing consistent and individualized care that works with individuals and families to achieve long-term stability.
Police and Fire representatives provided an update on the program to the Bellevue City Council in May, highlighting CCAT’s ability to effectively assist community members during times of crisis – particularly behavioral health emergencies – while also reducing the person’s chances of facing criminal charges, arrests, use of force, and emergency room visits to area hospitals.
“The data and first-hand accounts are sharing the good news: Bellevue’s Community Crisis Assistance Team is not only working, it’s saving lives. CCAT is providing the kind of world-class service that continues to establish Bellevue as the place to work, play, and live,” said Wendell Shirley, Chief of the Bellevue Police Department. “The City has embraced CCAT, and both Departments plan to take this effort to the next level as we provide people the life-saving mental health care services they need during times of crisis.”
The data showed more than 140 individual cases opened by the Fire Department’s CARES team and referred to CCAT since the City Council approved permanent funding for the CCAT program in Sept. 2023. This includes 484 behavioral health calls (48% increase) and 124 calls involving the topic of suicide (74% increase) during the first eight months of the permanent program.
Community members are encouraged to call 9-8-8 if someone is experiencing a mental health emergency.
Calls relayed to CCAT often involve de-escalation or diversion methods that have prevented crimes or threats to an individual’s health while protecting the community’s overall wellbeing. Since Sept. 2023, this includes 27 diversions from criminal charges, 25 diversions from arrest, 8 diversions from incarcerations, 24 diversions from use-of-force, and 25 diversions from unnecessary emergency room visits.
Given the effectiveness of Bellevue’s CCAT team, both Fire and Police teams see an opportunity to take this work to the next level. This includes plans to host advanced crisis negotiation training for the CCAT team and provide basic training to all firefighters and police officers – with the goal of preparing them to address less serious behavioral health-related calls. Further, the City is currently recruiting an Opioid Outreach Crisis Response Social Worker to join the CCAT and CARES teams.
Permanent funding for CCAT was approved by the Bellevue City Council in its 2023-2024 fiscal budget. The initial announcement from the Bellevue Police Department on August 31, 2023 can be found here. CCAT’s initial pilot program was launched in March 2022.
Bellevue Beat Blog 