                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS RESPONSE AND COMMUNITY UNDERSTANDING SERVICES (MARCUS)
ALERT SYSTEM; LAW-ENFORCEMENT PROTOCOLS (§ 9.1-193)

A. As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
			&#8220;Area&#8221; means a combination of one or more localities or
institutions of higher education contained therein that may have law-enforcement
officers as defined in &#xA7; 9.1-101.
			&#8220;Body-worn camera system&#8221; means the same as that term is defined
in &#xA7; 15.2-1723.1.
			&#8220;Community care team&#8221; means the same as that term is defined in
&#xA7; 37.2-311.1.
			&#8220;Comprehensive crisis system&#8221; means the same as that term is
defined in &#xA7; 37.2-311.1.
			&#8220;Developmental disability&#8221; means the same as that term is defined
in &#xA7; 37.2-100.
			&#8220;Developmental services&#8221; means the same as that term is defined
in &#xA7; 37.2-100.
			&#8220;Historically economically disadvantaged community&#8221; means the
same as that term is defined in &#xA7; 56-576.
			&#8220;Mental health awareness response and community understanding services
alert system&#8221; or &#8220;Marcus alert system&#8221; means the same as that
term is defined in &#xA7; 37.2-311.1.
			&#8220;Mental health service provider&#8221; means the same as that term is
defined in &#xA7; 54.1-2400.1.
			&#8220;Mobile crisis response&#8221; means the same as that term is defined
in &#xA7; 37.2-311.1.
			&#8220;Mobile crisis team&#8221; means the same as that term is defined in
&#xA7; 37.2-311.1.
			&#8220;Registered peer recovery specialist&#8221; means the same as that term
is defined in &#xA7; 54.1-3500.
			&#8220;Substance abuse&#8221; means the same as that term is defined in
&#xA7; 37.2-100.

B. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the
Department shall collaborate to ensure that the Department of Behavioral Health
and Developmental Services maintains purview over best practices to promote a
behavioral health response through the use of a mobile crisis response to
behavioral health crises whenever possible, or law-enforcement backup of a
mobile crisis response when necessary, and that the Department maintains purview
over requirements associated with decreased use of force and body-worn camera
system policies and enforcement of such policies in the protocols established
pursuant to this article and &#xA7; 37.2-311.1.

C. By July 1, 2021, the Department shall develop a written plan outlining (i)
the Department&#8217;s and law-enforcement agencies&#8217; roles and engagement
with the development of the Marcus alert system; (ii) the Department&#8217;s
role in the development of minimum standards, best practices, and the review and
approval of the protocols for law-enforcement participation in the Marcus alert
system set forth in subsection D; and (iii) plans for the measurement of
progress toward the goals for law-enforcement participation in the Marcus alert
system set forth in subsection E.

D. All protocols and training for law-enforcement participation in the Marcus
alert system shall be developed in coordination with local behavioral health and
developmental services stakeholders and approved by the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services according to standards developed pursuant to
&#xA7; 37.2-311.1. Such protocols and training shall provide for a specialized
response by law enforcement designed to meet the goals set forth in this article
to ensure that individuals experiencing a mental health, substance abuse, or
developmental disability-related behavioral health crisis receive a specialized
response when diversion to the comprehensive crisis system is not feasible.
Specialized response protocols and training by law enforcement shall consider
the impact to care that the presence of an officer in uniform or a marked
vehicle at a response has and shall mitigate such impact when feasible through
the use of plain clothes and unmarked vehicles. The specialized response
protocols and training shall also set forth best practices, guidelines, and
procedures regarding the role of law enforcement during a mobile crisis
response, including the provisions of backup services when requested, in order
to achieve the goals set forth in subsection E and to support the effective
diversion of mental health crises to the comprehensive crisis system whenever
feasible.

E. The goals of law-enforcement participation, including the development of
local protocols, in comprehensive crisis services and the Marcus alert system
shall be:

   1. Ensuring that individuals experiencing behavioral health crises are served
   by the behavioral health comprehensive crisis service system when considered
   feasible pursuant to protocols and training and associated clinical guidance
   provided pursuant to Title 37.2;

   2. Ensuring that local law-enforcement departments and institutions of higher
   education with law-enforcement officers establish standardized agreements for
   the provision of law-enforcement backup and specialized response when required
   for a mobile crisis response;

   3. Providing immediate response and services when diversion to the
   comprehensive crisis system continuum is not feasible with a protocol that
   meets the minimum standards and strives for the best practices developed by
   the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the
   Department pursuant to &#xA7; 37.2-311.1;

   4. Affording individuals whose behaviors are consistent with mental illness,
   substance abuse, intellectual or developmental disabilities, brain injury, or
   any combination thereof a sense of dignity in crisis situations;

   5. Reducing the likelihood of physical confrontation;

   6. Decrease arrests and use-of-force incidents by law-enforcement officers;

   7. Ensuring the use of unobstructed body-worn cameras for the continuous
   improvement of the response team;

   8. Identifying underserved populations in historically economically
   disadvantaged communities whose behaviors are consistent with mental illness,
   substance abuse, developmental disabilities, or any combination thereof and
   ensuring individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, including
   individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis secondary to mental
   illness, substance use problem, developmental or intellectual disabilities,
   brain injury, or any combination thereof, are directed or referred to and
   provided with appropriate care, including follow-up and wrap-around services
   to individuals, family members, and caregivers to reduce the likelihood of
   future crises;

   9. Providing support and assistance for mental health service providers and
   law-enforcement officers;

   10. Decreasing the use of arrest and detention of persons whose behaviors are
   consistent with mental illness, substance abuse, developmental or intellectual
   disabilities, brain injury, or any combination thereof by providing better
   access to timely treatment;

   11. Providing a therapeutic location or protocol to bring individuals in
   crisis for assessment that is not a law-enforcement or jail facility;

   12. Increasing public recognition and appreciation for the mental health needs
   of a community;

   13. Decreasing injuries during crisis events;

   14. Decreasing the need for mental health treatment in jail;

   15. Accelerating access to care for individuals in crisis through improved and
   streamlined referral mechanisms to mental health and developmental services;

   16. Improving the notifications made to the comprehensive crisis system
   concerning an individual experiencing a mental health crisis if the individual
   poses an immediate public safety threat or threat to self; and

   17. Decreasing the use of psychiatric hospitalizations as a treatment for
   mental health crises.

F. By July 1, 2023, every locality shall establish a voluntary database to be
made available to the 9-1-1 alert system and the Marcus alert system to provide
relevant mental health information and emergency contact information for
appropriate response to an emergency or crisis. Identifying and health
information concerning behavioral health illness, mental health illness,
developmental or intellectual disability, or brain injury may be voluntarily
provided to the database by the individual with the behavioral health illness,
mental health illness, developmental or intellectual disability, or brain
injury; the parent or legal guardian of such individual if the individual is
under the age of 18; or a person appointed the guardian of such person as
defined in &#xA7; 64.2-2000. An individual shall be removed from the database
when he reaches the age of 18, unless he or his guardian, as defined in &#xA7;
64.2-2000, requests that the individual remain in the database. Information
provided to the database shall not be used for any other purpose except as set
forth in this subsection.

G. Localities with a population that is less than or equal to 40,000 may and
localities with a population that is greater than 40,000 shall establish local
protocols that meet the requirements set forth in the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services plan set forth in clauses (vii) and (viii) of
subdivision B 2 of &#xA7; 37.2-311.1. Localities with a population that is less
than or equal to 40,000 may and localities with a population that is greater
than 40,000 shall develop protocols for law-enforcement participation in the
Marcus alert system, which shall be approved by the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services and the Department prior to such
participation. For the purposes of this subsection, the population of a locality
shall be the population of that locality as reported by the United States Census
Bureau following the 2020 decennial census.

H. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection G, every locality, regardless of
population, shall establish local protocols to divert calls from the 9-1-1
dispatch and response system to a crisis call center for risk assessment and
engagement, including assessment for mobile crisis or community care team
dispatch if available, in accordance with clause (iv) of subdivision B 2 of
&#xA7; 37.2-311.1.

HISTORY: 2020, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 41, 42; 2022, cc. 613, 619.