New Unit Created to Respond to Calls Involving Persons in Mental Distress or Crisis

Every week, the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Communications Bureau is inundated with 911 calls
regarding people in crisis or with mental health concerns. The calls are highest in the South District and the Northside District, with over 5,600 logged annually, combined, an average of over 15 calls daily.

Calls that involve mentally ill subjects or people in emotional distress have circumstances that demand a
different type of response from police than other calls, and that is why many law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have specialized units trained for such scenarios. The Miami-Dade Police Department recently launched its own Crisis Response Unit (CRU), a team of 19 officers and 2 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department paramedics. “Now is the time, we know that our community is more than ever suffering from great anxiety, great depression, a huge amount of mental illness, and that plays out unfortunately in crime, in safety issues, people who are at risk in their homes, in their neighborhoods, people who pose risks to others because of their instability, emotional crisis . . .” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, during the graduation ceremony of the first CRU class, on Monday, May 1, 2023. Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III said, “The mental health crisis is a crisis that knows no socioeconomic
boundaries, it affects everybody.”

The applicants were selected based on their interpersonal skills, such as their ability to empathize with others, develop rapport, and communicate effectively. Some of the members hold college degrees in psychology, and some have children with autism or other neural disorders,
or have lost loved ones to suicide. “Those lived experiences help them to relate,” said Major Melissa Barosela, Commander of the Department’s Mental Health & Wellness Bureau, which oversees the Unit. The team went through four weeks of crisis intervention training that focused on recognizing behavioral indicators of crisis, mitigating crisis situations with minimal use-offorce, and basic negotiating techniques.

Their performances during the training scenarios were video recorded and assessed. The Unit is now responding to calls in the South District and Northside District. The Department is hoping to add more officers to the Unit and expand into the Intracoastal District and the Hammocks District,
Major Barosela said. The Unit works in teams of three, with two officers and a clinician from the Department’s Mental Health & Wellness Bureau. Officer safety and the safety of innocent persons
remains tantamount, and only after scenes are deemed secure and safe by the officers, will the clinicians proceed to offer its specialized response. “The overall goal of the Unit is to de-escalate, assess, and divert those in crisis to behavioral health services in a safe and compassionate manner.”