07/17/2026
By Karen Mullins

The School of Criminology and Justice Studies is proud to announce a Dissertation Proposal Defense by Courtney E. Fisher, entitled, "Co-Response to Behavioral Health Crises among Youth and Emerging Adults in Boston: An Exploratory Study of Incident Characteristics and Outcomes."

Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Time: Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Room 431 HSSB and via Zoom

Committee:

  • Melissa S. Morabito, Chair, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell
  •  Ryan T. Shields, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell
  • Joselyne L. Chenane, School of Criminology and Justice Studies
  • Jenna Savage, Office of Research and Development, Boston Police Department

Abstract:
Police officers are often the first to respond to behavioral health crises among youth and emerging adults, a role shaped by decades of deinstitutionalization and persistent gaps in community-based care. Police-mental health co-response models—which pair officers with clinicians—have emerged as a promising alternative to police-only responses. However, little is known about how these models operate for youth and emerging adults specifically, or how crisis encounters are classified, resolved, and documented across systems. This exploratory mixed-methods study examines the Boston Police Department (BPD)/Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST) Co-Response Program using linked 2023 administrative data—the first case-level integration of BPD and BEST records. Grounded in Communities of Practice theory, the study examines the demographic and situational characteristics of these incidents using a hot-warm-cold severity typology; the immediate outcomes that follow (e.g., arrest, transport, referral, on-scene resolution); how these immediate outcomes vary by severity, demographics, and context; and discrepancies between BPD and BEST documentation as indicators of interagency coordination. Descriptive statistics and logistic/multinomial regression will address incident characteristics and outcomes, while matched case comparisons and qualitative narrative analysis will assess cross-system alignment. By combining law enforcement and clinical data, this study offers a methodological model for cross-agency research and generates foundational evidence to inform more developmentally appropriate, equitable, and coordinated crisis response systems for young people.