Here is some good police news. Here is a tale of lessons learned from past mistakes. Here, come and listen to ways institutions, organizations, work cultures and people always have the potential to change for the better. Bac Luu, a leader with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), is heading a program that is embedded in the offices of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). In this episode he takes us into a world where LACDMH and LAPD have forged a beneficial partnership decades in the making. It is most importantly a benefit to the community as this partnership makes the job of policing and the job of helping people in crisis a chance to have more positive outcomes. It all began back in 1993, when mental health staff came to work side by side with police in a program called Systemwide Mental Health Assessment Response Teams (SMART) and a companion program, Case Assessment Management Program (CAMP). These programs bring to the streets and into homes, a team of a Police Officer and a Mental Health Professional where it is so often needed. In the last dozen years this approach has grown with Los Angeles, California looked at around the nation and the world as a model for creating important teamwork. Time has seen these teams grow in this City with expanded hours of joint training and with a deepening awareness of what both policing and mental health have to offer one another. Bac Luu is a leader we can learn from and who has built on the accomplishments of a pioneer in the field, Chuck Lennon. We can only hope that such a successful partnering grows in the coming years as the need for the teamwork only is increasing as a benefit to all communities. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988