Lt. Steven Thomas, who led the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team to international renown, has been reassigned to mall security after being disciplined for giving his officers the discretion not to handcuff people with mental illness or addiction.
His apparent ouster from the unit he’s helmed for a decade sent shock waves through the county’s criminal justice and substance abuse and mental health treatment circles.
Melissa Owens, a longtime Anne Arundel County Public Schools high school teacher who has bipolar disorder, credits Thomas’ unit with saving her life on several occasions when she was in crisis. She said Thomas’ reassignment, and the apparent reasoning, “raises questions.”
“Why have an entire program where you train first responders in how to use this discretion, all the tools they have in action, and then tell them you can’t use them?” said Owens, who now helps train officers on responding to people in mental crisis. “That’s pointless to me.”
Thomas is now assigned to the Bureau of Community Services, Police Department spokesperson Justin Mulcahy said. He declined to answer other questions, including about what prompted the change. Mulcahy said an acting lieutenant was in charge of the crisis unit.
A 30-year police veteran, Thomas now works out of the department’s post at Arundel Mills Mall, said O’Brien Atkinson, president of the union that represents Anne Arundel police officers. Atkinson said he couldn’t discuss the reassignment but lauded Thomas’ leadership of the Crisis Intervention Team.
“Our CIT program has been recognized as one of the best in the nation and world, really,” Atkinson said. “I think he certainly was a big part of that.”
Under Thomas’ leadership, the police crisis team was declared the best in the world in 2020 by CIT International. His unit also received that organization’s first regional platinum certification in 2024. These accolades drew praise from elected officials and contributed to Anne Arundel County’s status as the gold standard for crisis response in Maryland.
Officers in Thomas’ unit wear light-blue collared shirts and complete specialized training on how to help people in crisis. They connect people with mental illness or addiction to treatment. They sometimes transport people deemed to be dangerous because of mental illness to hospitals for emergency evaluations. When there’s a terrible tragedy, like a homicide, CIT officers respond to the emotional needs of people affected by it.
Hellbound and Down 