INDIANAPOLIS - As the year comes to an end, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Mobile Crisis Assistance Team is reflecting on its performance.
MCAT was founded to provide resources to those in a mental health crisis.
The seven teams are made up of an IMPD officer and an Eskenazi clinician to respond to calls that may just need someone to talk with to de-escalate a situation.
This year to date, the teams have responded to more than 2,700 mental health-related calls across the city.
“We're able to help everybody,” said IMPD Major Tabatha McLemore. “We're able to help that family member, and we're able to help the hospital with the ER visits, and we're able to help our IMPD street officers who are out there.”
The teams not only assist those directly involved, but also the potential bystanders.
"We've had an incident where an individual had committed suicide in the middle of a parking lot,” said McLemore.
“We were able to get our MCAT teams there. They're able to help those witnesses to get them the resources.”
President of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis David Greene Sr. believes that mental health battles are only becoming more common across the country and here in Indianapolis.
"I know that's one of the challenges, who's going to pay for this?” said Greene.
“It's something that's desperately needed in our communities."
The teams operate Monday through Friday during work hours, but mental health breaks can happen at any time and anywhere.
"We just have to get to a place where these things are available, 24/7 and available across our entire county,” said Greene.
“So the key is to get it to that place."
IMPD said it's difficult to find mental health experts to work irregular hours, but they're able to follow up on situations they miss.
“Even though it happened at late shift, doesn't mean the MCAT can't still be able to give some kind of assistance to that,” said McLemore.
In 2024, MCAT detectives checked back in with home visits on about 1,000 calls.
Early next year, several Indianapolis agencies will be sitting down to go through the same mental health training so when calls do come in, everyone will be on the same page.
People are encouraged to call 988 if they find themselves or someone they know suffering a non-violent mental health crisis.