Ride along with Behavioral Health Response Team Officer Billy Kemmer and mental health clinician Sarah Scafani of the Portland Police Bureau's Behavioral Health Unit.
The Behavioral Health Unit’s (BHU) mission is to coordinate the response of Law Enforcement and the Behavioral Health System to aid people in behavioral crisis resulting from known or suspected mental illness and/or drug and alcohol addiction.
BHU oversees the four tiers of PPB’s multi-layered police response to individuals with mental illness or in behavioral crisis. These layers include:
- The core competency of Crisis Intervention Training for all patrol officers
- The Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT), a group of volunteer officers that respond to mental health crisis calls
- The proactive Behavioral Health Response Teams (BHRT)
- The Service Coordination Team (SCT)
Visit www.portland.gov/police/divisions/behavioral-health-unit for more information.
