This study examines the impact of the Fayetteville Police Department’s (FPD) Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT) on trends in mental health crisis (MHC)-related calls assigned to patrol units through a series of interrupted time series analysis models (ITSA). CIRT, a co-response program pairing law enforcement with social workers, aims to respond to MHC-related calls and connect people in crisis to benefits and services. This study uses single-group ITSA to analyze changes in MHC-related calls assigned to the day shift (when CIRT was operational) and multi-group ITSA to compare the day shift with the night shift (which had no access to CIRT during the study period). Significant reductions were found in Intoxicated Person, Suicide Threat, and Welfare Concern calls following CIRT implementation, alongside an increase in Self-Initiated Follow-Up calls, indicating greater officer engagement in casework. However, no significant changes were observed for Loitering, Mental Health Crisis, or Trespassing calls. The multi-group ITSA revealed minimal differences between day and night shifts, except for Suicide Threat calls, where a greater reduction occurred during the day shift. This suggests that CIRT effectively diverted these high-risk calls from patrol and addressed them appropriately. These findings contribute to the literature on co-response programs by demonstrating CIRT’s potential to reduce MHC-related call volume for patrol and improve crisis response while highlighting the need for expanded operational hours and integration with broader mental health services. The article concludes with implications for police operations, social work education, and further research.
(Publisher abstract provided.)