Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office creates a crisis response team with $500K from county behavioral health division – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Sheriff Earnell R. Lucas.(Photo: Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Milwaukee County's Behavioral Health Division plans to expand its Crisis Assessment and Response Team to the Milwaukee Countys Sheriff's Office with a $500,000 investment.

CART teams consist of law enforcement officers who are often trained in crisis intervention and behavioral health professionals. CART teams typically respond to mental health-related calls and are designed to help deescalate situations and reduce negative interactions between first responders and those with mental health conditions.

CART was first launched in 2013 at the Milwaukee Police Department.

According to a flyer about the Milwaukee Police Department's crisis mental health resources, the CART team's mission includes providing"dignified and culturally competent service to all persons in crisis" and decreasingthe "possibility of use of force and injuries to officers, consumers, and the community."

According to Milwaukee County, the number of CART contacts increased from 1,190 in 2017 to 2,722 in 2018 and more than half of incidents in 2018 were considered "stabilized on scene." The new team at the sheriff's office will consist of five members.

Contact Talis Shelbourne at (414) 403-6651 or tshelbourn@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @talisseer and message her on Facebook at @talisseer.

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Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office creates a crisis response team with $500K from county behavioral health division - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel