City of OKC

Recommendation No. 20:

The City and OKCPD should integrate new records management system with dispatch for coordinated mental health responses.

As OKC potentially invests in a new records management system, part of the requirements should be that it connects to dispatch and allows for coordination to respond to mental health issues, identifying frequent callers and potential needs or specialized responses that they require.

Project Status: 80% Implemented

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Project Details from Consultant Report

As OKCPD develops its Record Management System (RMS), which is currently planned, the Department and the City should ensure that gathering and tracking crisis data is fully baked into the new system. This information will help guide deployment needs and guide specific interactions by providing information before the police come into contact with an individual in crisis.

Currently OKCPD tracks crisis response, attempted suicide calls, and dispositions – whether an arrest or custodial intervention occurred. The copy we received was an Excel spreadsheet. While laudable, the level of detail that can be collected for crisis calls should be far greater. For example, tracking behavioral information for “frequent flyers” requiring mental health contacts can inform a thoughtful police approach. Knowing an individual’s service provider, their triggers, and methods of successful resolution is important for any responding officer. By recording behavioral responses rather than diagnoses, potential HIPPA entanglements can be avoided.

Additionally, OKC could consider creating a public-facing portal for families to enter information about problematic behavioral issues in the family. This could work similarly to the current OKC Storm Shelter Registry and allow the public to enter family demographics and special needs into the system through a public database that would be linked to 911 dispatch so that when and if that family calls 911 there can already be useful response data in the system.

One community member clearly explained the need for this:

I am an OKC resident with a child that is non-verbal and has intellectual and developmental disabilities. I called OKCPD to ask if they could put a note (they call it a “premise”) in their system that a non-verbal child with disabilities lives at my address. I was told that OKCPD can put a premise in their system to note if a particular address has weapons or a history of violence, but that my request for a does not fit their “criteria.” I find it interesting that OKCPD will put a premise in their system if it’s about protecting themselves, but not if it’s about a citizen concerned about protecting his child from the police.

And a community member alerted us to the fact that such a system exists locally in Norman, OK. The Special Needs Alert & Identification Program (S.A.Id):

allows parents, guardian or caregiver the opportunity to complete a simple information form that gives the Norman Police Department permission to create a specialized alert in our communication database. The S.A.Id alert defines the individual’s condition and/or needs to First Responders prior to them arriving to an incident to improve their response, interaction, and communication with the individual.

The goal here is that all responders – police, alternative mental health, or co-responders – all have access to location and person specific information to guide the interaction to the best possible outcomes.

This recommendation was overwhelmingly supported in the public survey by ninety- two percent of people who responded; specifically Black/African American (93%); Native American/Alaskan Native (95%); Asian (97%); White (91%); Latinx (91%); and Other (85%).