Anne Arundel County is creating a work group to study Police Department policies that affect the work of its acclaimed Crisis Intervention Team, County Executive Steuart Pittman said Friday.

The announcement follows The Banner’s reporting on the ouster of the unit’s longtime leader and other changes since his removal last month.

Pittman said the former crisis team leader, Lt. Steven Thomas, would be a member of the work group along with representatives from the county’s Police Department, Mental Health Agency, Behavioral Health Bureau and Office of Law.

The Banner revealed last week that Thomas had been disciplined and removed from his command for giving his officers discretion not to handcuff people experiencing mental health crises or substance use disorders.

In the month since his ouster, the unit, under interim leadership, returned to strict adherence to Police Department policies that Thomas sometimes bypassed to help people, such as mandatory handcuffing and another rule requiring officers to arrest anyone with an outstanding warrant, including for minor charges.

Under Thomas, the police crisis team had worked with prosecutors and the public defender’s office to bring people with warrants before a judge and pause the matter so the person could enter treatment. All involved agreed, for the most part, that the legal issues could be addressed later when the person was stable.

Jen Corbin, the director of the county’s broader Crisis Response System, which includes mental health clinicians, said she was no longer dispatching the specially trained officers to calls involving people in distress who had legal issues. She made the change, she told The Banner, because of the police unit’s return to strict handcuffing and arrest policies.

Corbin said the change made her concerned for her clinicians’ safety because they’d no longer be accompanied by specially trained officers.

Pittman, in his announcement Friday, echoed a statement he sent The Banner a day earlier in which he called Thomas, a 30-year police veteran who is retiring soon, “a hero to thousands of families in our county who have faced trauma and crisis.”

“His expertise will be critical as we review the policies that impact the work of our CIT,” Pittman said in a news release.

Thomas helped found the crisis team more than a decade ago. Under his leadership, it was declared the best in the world in 2020 by CIT International. It also received that organization’s first regional platinum designation in 2024. The Police Department and county leadership touted those recognitions in press releases and news conferences.

Word that Thomas had been reassigned to the agency’s post at Arundel Mills Mall stunned the county’s mental health and addiction recovery communities. Criminal justice, civic and elected leaders also expressed dismay over his removal.

In a recent statement, Police Chief Amal Awad reiterated the agency’s commitment to crisis intervention while noting that department policy seeks to ensure officer safety.

According to Pittman’s office, the work group will produce a report that outlines their work, the future of the county’s CIT, and any updates or clarifications to Police Department policies regarding restraining individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

“This workgroup will provide a process to discuss policies regarding detainee handcuffs, officer safety, public safety, dignity, and de-escalation to ensure that we are delivering the care and safety our communities deserve,” Pittman said in the release. “I am confident that we will continue to deliver the high quality, respectful, and compassionate policing practices that Anne Arundel County has become known for.”