BTAU staffing and multidisciplinary support

BTAUs should be staffed by law enforcement personnel who have training and experience working with partners across the community.

This may include personnel with experience in crisis intervention or officers with experience navigating the mental health system and social services.

Those assigned to BTAUs should also receive training specifically on behavioral threat assessment research and best practices.

BTAUs may vary in size, as this preventive approach allows for scalability.

An agency that lacks the resources to establish a BTAU could begin with a single, designated violence prevention officer who maintains the responsibility of gathering information and managing situations involving a potential for violence and who leverages assistance as needed.

New BTAUs can also be established with a small, initial core team, which may develop in size and sophistication as additional resources become available.

For example, at the time of this writing, the LAPD TMU was staffed with five case-carrying detectives and one officer-in-charge, an expansion from the TMU’s original structure of three detectives and one supervisor.

If resources allow, larger agency units can utilize multidisciplinary support to enhance the efforts of their law enforcement staff by including intelligence analysts, a staff psychologist, legal counsel, or liaison positions from other agencies (e.g., detailees from local courts, mental health systems, or school districts).

For example, at the time of this writing, the NCSBI BeTA Unit is staffed by eight law enforcement personnel (one assistant special agent in charge and seven special agents) one intelligence analyst, two psychologists, and one social worker.