HPD Policy 5.06 - Interactions with People in Mental Health Crisis
03/11/26When Hartford Police Meet Mental Illness:
The HPD Policy the Public Was Never Shown
What policy governs how Hartford police interact with people experiencing a mental health crisis?
The Hartford Police Department has such a policy: General Order 5.06: Interacting with People Who Are Mentally Ill or in Mental Health Crisis.
But for years, the HPD has withheld it from the public – despite a Hartford city ordinance requiring the department to make its policies and procedures publicly available online. Even now, the policy remains hidden:
These policies define the rules governing officer conduct in critical situations – from use of force to crisis intervention. The ordinance recognizes a simple principle: the public has a right to know the rules that govern those who police them.
At a moment when Hartford Police faces national scrutiny over killing two men who were struggling with mental illness, the city should be leaning into transparency – not resisting it.
That is why American Justice Project is publishing HPD General Order 5.06 here. Residents, advocates, researchers, and policymakers can now review the policy for themselves.
Interacting with People Who Are Mentally Ill or in Mental Health Crisis
Hartford Police Department Policy and Procedure
General Order 5.06, Effective Date: 6/7/2023
This General Order is for departmental use only and does not apply in any criminal or civil proceeding. This General Order should not be construed as creation of a higher legal standard of safety or care in an evidentiary sense with respect to third party claims. Violations of this General order will only form the basis for departmental administrative sanctions. Violations of law will form the basis for civil and criminal sanctions in a recognied judicial setting.
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this General Order is to establish guidelines, policies, and procedures for Hartford Police Department (Department) personnel for the handling of persons who, due to mental illness, present a danger to themselves or others and cannot meet their basic needs or ordinary demands of life.
II. POLICY
Mental illness is not a crime and does not, in itself, justify or require police intervention. Many mentally ill persons are capable of functioning on their own without danger to themselves or others. When persons appear to be in mental health crisis, however, the Department’s primary concern shall be to protect the mentally ill person and other citizens.
III. DEFINITIONS
Mentally Ill Individual: A person who has a substantial disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life.
Danger to him/herself or others: means there is a substantial risk the individual will inflict physical harm upon his own person or upon another person.
Gravely Disabled: means that a person, as a result of mental or emotional impairment, is in danger of serious harm as a result of an inability or failure to provide for his or her own basic human needs such as essential food, clothing, shelter or safety and that hospital treatment is necessary and available and that such person is mentally incapable of determining whether or not to accept such treatment because his judgment is impaired by his psychiatric disabilities.
Reasonable Cause: The structure and purpose of § 17a-503 and its legislative history suggest that “reasonable cause” likely means something less than “probable cause. The legislature, however, has never defined “reasonable cause” and whatever distinction that may exist between it and “probable cause” has never been explored or made clear in case law1.
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1Chiarenza, Rocco and Sugrue, Timothy. “The ‘Red Flag’ Law, June 1, 2022 Amendments to General Statutes §29-38c.” State of CT Division of Criminal Justice.
IV. PROCEDURES
A. Protective Custody
Connecticut General Statutes Section 17a-503 permits law enforcement officers to take into protective custody individuals who require treatment if the law enforcement officer has reasonable cause to believe that a person is mentally ill, and, who as a result of that mental illness, is a danger to himself or herself or others or gravely disabled, and in need of immediate care and treatment.
1. Adults
a. Officers and Capital Region Mobile Crisis Clinicians have the ability to compel a person to go to the hospital under CGS § 17a-503.
b. Generally speaking, if Mobile Crisis Clinicians are on scene, they can handle the emergency committal and the paperwork involved.
c. If Mobile Crisis Clinicians are not available, and the officer reasonably believes a person is a danger to themselves or others or gravely disabled, the officer should complete the Police Request for Emergency Examination (PREE) form and have the person transported to the hospital.
2. Juveniles
a. CGS § 17a-503 does not prohibit officers from completing an emergency committal for juveniles. However, an emergency committal should only be completed for a juvenile in very serious or unique conditions.
i. Prior to completing an emergency committal, officers should attempt to contact a parent or guardian and request that they compel their child to go to the hospital.
ii. Parents or guardians refusing to get necessary medical attention for their child should result in a Department of Children and Families (DCF) referral and possible criminal charges.
b. Please note that at this time, Wheeler Clinic clinicians do not have the legal authority to compel a juvenile to go to the hospital pursuant to CGS § 17a-503. Therefore, when Wheeler Clinic is on scene and an officer determines that a juvenile should be compelled to go to the hospital, the officer must complete the PREE paperwork and relevant reporting requirements.
3. Reporting
a. When completing a PREE, the form should be completed thoroughly with as much information as possible, and copies of the form shall be distributed to the EMS personnel and Emergency Room personnel. A copy of the form should also be put in the Mobile Crisis box next to the Records Division.
b. An incident report shall always be completed when officers compel a person to go to the hospital under CGS § 17a-503. This is because this action is essentially a seizure under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
B. Recognizing Abnormal Behavior
1. Mental illness is often difficult for even the trained professional to define in a given individual. Officers are not expected to make judgments of mental or emotional disturbances but rather to recognize behavior that is potentially dangerous or destructive to self or others.
2. When HPD officers are confronted with a situation involving a mentally ill individual, the officer should endeavor to gain as much background information about the individual as possible. Some of the signs to help recognize mental illness in a person relate to significant changes in behavior. These include:
a. Others saying that the person is not “him/herself”;
b. They may behave in a way dangerous to themselves or to others;
c. They may withdraw into themselves, talking only to themselves;
d. Mentally ill persons may show signs of strong and unrelenting fear of persons, places, or things. The fear of people or crowds, for example, may make the individual extremely reclusive or aggressive without apparent provocation.
e. They may have sensations that are not based on reality, such as:
i. Visions, strange odors, peculiar tastes or voices;
ii. Unrealistic ideas or grand thoughts about themselves;
iii. Believing that they are worthless (extreme depression);
iv. Delusions (unrealistic ideas) about the world;
v. Exaggerate events that occur;
vi. Believe the world is more unfriendly than it is; and
vii. Strange losses of memory or not know the time, or where or who they are.
3. The types of impaired (abnormal) behavior that are most dangerous are the violent, depress/suicidal, or where physical illness or loss of memory is involved. Impaired behaviors seen most often by officers include the:
a. Psychopathic personality;
b. Alcoholic;
c. Drug addict;
d. Sex offender;
e. Mentally retarded; and
f. Mental disorders of old age.
4. If the officer observing the conduct of the individual has any doubt as to whether the individual is a "person requiring treatment," the officer may request that a CIT certified officer respond to the scene.
5. The CIT officer will help determine if the individual is a "person requiring treatment." When the decision is made to convey, the officer observing the conduct will arrange the conveyance. The officer shall execute a written request for emergency examination detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody, and arrange transportation to the hospital via ambulance or other means.
6. Officers shall complete an Incident Report to document the incident.
C. Dealing with People Who Are Mentally Ill
Should the officer determine that an individual may be mentally ill and a potential threat to themselves, the officer, or others, may otherwise require law enforcement intervention. The following responses provide general guidelines:
1. Take steps to calm the situation. Where possible, eliminate emergency lights and sirens, disperse crowds, and assume a quiet non-threatening manner when approaching or conversing, with the individual;
2. Move slowly and do not excite the disturbed individual. Provide reassurance that the police are there to help and that they will be provided with appropriate care;
3. Avoid topics that may agitate the individual and guide the conversation toward subjects that help bring the individual back to reality;
4. Always attempt to be truthful with the individual. If a subject becomes aware of deception, they may withdraw from contact in distrust and may become hypersensitive or retaliate in anger.
5. Officers conducting interviews or interrogations of a person with a mental illness or who the officer suspects may have a mental illness should consult with a mental health professional and the State’s Attorney’s Office to determine whether the person is competent to understand his constitutional rights. These rights include prompt presentment, the voluntary nature of interviews and the Miranda rights to counsel and against self-incrimination.
6. If officer’s interview or interrogate such persons as suspects, witnesses or victims, those officers should observe the following in order to obtain valid information:
a. Do not interpret the lack of eye contact and strange actions or responses as indications of deceit, deception or evasion of questions.
b. Use simple, straightforward questions.
c. Recognize that persons with a mental illness may be easily manipulated and highly suggestible.
D. Accessing Available Community Mental Health Resources
1. The HEARTeam, or Hartford Emergency Assistance Response Team, is a collaboration between existing first responders (Police, Fire, EMS, Mobile Crisis) and teams of trained responders that can help individuals in crisis.
2. HEARTeam consists of the following responders:
a. Capital Region Mobile Crisis Teams (Mobile Crisis): Mobile Crisis clinicians will respond to adult mental health crisis calls for service, whenever it is safe for them to do so.
i. Hours: 0800 to midnight, 7 days per week.
ii. Phone number: (860) 297-0999
iii. Officers should not assume that dispatch will automatically call the Mobile Crisis line to get a clinician to respond when requested by an officer. Officers should specifically request that dispatch call the Mobile Crisis line to ensure that clinicians respond as needed and that the record reflects their request.
iv. Officers should document all actions taken on the incident report, or in the case of a referral, in the CAD notes.
v. Officers may place referrals in the Mobile Crisis/CIT box (next to the Records Division) for any case which the officer feels follow-up by a Mobile Crisis clinician would be beneficial. This includes, but is not limited to, overdoses, suicidal ideation or overall mental health calls. Include all applicable reports in the referral, including incident reports and PEER form, if applicable. Make sure accurate contact information is provided with the referral.
a. Community Renewal Team (CRT): CRT will respond to lower-risk 911 calls related to non-violent emotionally distressed adults. CRT will provide a response by both a licensed clinician and a peer (a person with live experience), to address basic needs (food, housing, clothing), intoxication and substance abuse, conflict de-escalation and mediation, suicide prevention, and follow up referrals and services.
vi. CRT has been issued HPD radios and will identify themselves as CRT1, CRT2, and so on.
vii. CRT teams may be dispatched to certain calls on their own, or as a co-response with HPD.
viii. Officers may request CRT for calls where the above issues are the underlying problem (i.e. food/housing/clothing, substance abuse, etc.).
b. Wheeler Mobile Crisis for juveniles under 18 (Wheeler): Wheeler clinicians are available to assist officers with certain mental health and behavioral calls for service for youth under 18 years of age.
i. Hours of service: weekdays 0600-2200, weekends/major holidays 1300-2200.
ii. Steps for requesting Wheeler response:
• Officer on scene ensures the scene is safe, collects all pertinent information, and obtains verbal permission from the youth’s caretaker that they are willing to have a clinician from Wheeler respond and assist.
• Officer on scene calls . Provide the call taker with requested information. Wheeler clinicians will not have police radios, so they must be contacted by phone.
iii. Assist Wheeler clinicians as needed and ensure their safety on scene.
3. These services are being provided by the city to create the best possible response for individuals in crisis. HPD will still respond to these calls for service when HEARTeam cannot for any reason - be it outside of their normal business hours, if they are responding to other calls or they decline to respond. To be able to provide quality assurance for HPD response, the following steps should be taken:
a. Officers should always notify ES&T when HEARTeam responds to the scene. Mobile Crisis and CRT may put themselves on scene because they carry police radios, but Wheeler will not be carrying radios.
b. Officer should always document the HEARTeam response (or lack of response) in their incident report, whenever an incident report is required for the incident type.
c. Anytime an officer has a negative interaction with a HEARTeam member, or has a concern about the way a HEARTeam member responded to a call, they should notify their immediate supervisor for notification up the chain of command.
E. Training
1. The Hartford Police Academy will provide instruction to recruits in situations involving mentally ill individuals.
2. All officers are required to attend in-service training for mental illness annually.