Three Things To Read This Week
1. Momentum Grows For Homeless Outreach Programs
Missoula, Montana. For KPAX, the local CBS affiliate, Kierra Sam reports on the city’s new Homeless Outreach Team, which is composed of five trained outreach workers who operate out of a local homelessness shelter. The team provides people experiencing homelessness with connection to medical care, housing services, and food-assistance programs. The team also provides “gear for survival” including “water, food, light clothing … sunscreen, bug spray… all those normal things that we all use everyday.”
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Megan Raposa reports for Sioux Falls Simplified on the city’s homeless outreach program, which launched this summer to give “people an alternative to calling the police when they see someone [who is experiencing homelessness] in need of assistance,” and to provide a variety of services that range “from connecting someone [to a] medical clinic to offering a water bottle” to “wraparound services that go far beyond the immediate need.” A city council member also underscored that the team “lowers the burden on our law enforcement community.”
Oahu, Hawaii. For KITV, Oahu’s local ABC affiliate, ‘A’ali’i Dukelow reports on Achieve Zero, a new city-funded homelessness outreach pilot program in the city of Wahiawa on the island of Oahu that provides people experiencing homelessness with connections to a wide range of services including housing and rental assistance programs, medical care and drug treatment, financial aid, and even help with paperwork for vital records like birth certificates and identification cards. The teams, composed of a case manager and a trained outreach worker, are seeing early success: Since the pilot launched in June, 70% of the people whom the team has helped have returned for follow-up services, which is “significant because it dispels the myth that unhoused people are resistant to services— they just need to be delivered in the right way.”
2. American Police Beat Magazine: “More U.S. Cities Shift Toward Civilian Response Teams To Address Mental Health Crises.”
Over the past three decades, Police Beat Magazine has established itself as “the trusted voice of our nation’s law enforcement community” and remains “the only [law enforcement] publication that is delivered to virtually every town, city, county and state law enforcement agency in the country.” When a policy idea makes it into Police Beat Magazine it signifies real recognition and progress—and, importantly, a growing embrace among law enforcement. The latest edition of the magazine covers civilian mobile crisis teams. Here are the three key excerpts:
“A rising number of cities across the country are turning to civilian response teams instead of armed police officers to address nonviolent mental health crises, a new report shows. The shift comes in response to numerous instances where police encounters with individuals undergoing a mental health crisis escalated and resulted in tragic outcomes.
…
According to data from the AP, 14 of the 20 most populous cities in the United States are in the process of implementing or exploring programs that deploy behavioral health clinicians and medical professionals such as paramedics to handle nonviolent, mental health-related 9-1-1 calls. These initiatives, sometimes referred to as civilian, alternative or non-police response teams, are gaining momentum, with combined annual budgets exceeding $123 million as of June 2023.…
Denver’s STAR program, a leading example of this approach, deploys teams equipped with medical supplies, blankets and essentials to respond to crises. Notably, a Stanford University study found that in areas where STAR operated, reports of petty crimes dropped by a third while violent crime rates remained steady. Importantly, police have never been called for backup during STAR interventions. STAR responded to around 44% of eligible calls last year. “It’s really about meeting the needs of the community and making sure we are sending the right experts, so we can actually solve the problem,” said Carleigh Sailon, a former STAR manager.”
This positive coverage from Police Beat Magazine echoes endorsements of mobile crisis teams from individual police chiefs across the country. Here are three examples of police chiefs praising mobile crisis response programs from jurisdictions of different sizes and political realities across the country:
St. Petersburg, Florida Police Chief Anthony Holloway:
“This is going to be very positive for law enforcement because it does two things: One it frees up the police officers so they can do police work, so they can go out there and look for the burglars, robbers, things that we are trained and know how to do. And the other part of it is, we are getting healthcare professionals who can help law enforcement help people through their crisis … when people are calling 911 and they are going through a mental crisis then we can send a professional there to help them through their mental crisis instead of just sending an officer there with a badge and a gun."
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul:
“We realized our community was experiencing increased mental health and substance use crises … and we didn’t believe people were getting the care they needed … The correct response to a crisis is the one where people get the help they need … “Mobile crisis teams can contact law enforcement if needed, but they’re trained to de-escalate behavioral health crisis situations.”
Parsons, Kansas Police Chief Robert Spinks:
“Looking beyond a traditional police response is critical for the future. Most response calls involving people with mental illness are not the result of criminal behavior, but of emotional crisis … Mental health issues account for at least 1 in 4 and up to half of all fatal police shootings” and “80% [of police officers in a national survey] cited repeat contact with the same individuals suffering a mental health crisis as a top officer safety concern … Many officers are not ready nor interested, or do not have the disposition to fully engage in this advanced specialist training. Just as many officers are not cut out to be a K-9 handler, bomb tech, SWAT or dive team officer, not all officers are cut out to be or are interested in taking on [Crisis Intervention Training] … Mobile crisis teams [, which] utilize community-based mental health professionals to respond to individuals experiencing mental health crises. These teams typically do not involve the police initially, though police can be called upon when appropriate … Mental illness and people in crisis exist in all communities, and it is not a crime. It is incumbent that police agencies and communities collaborate to address, respond to and seek new funding for sustainable mental health responses and services for those in need.”
3. This County Created A Dashboard To Spotlight Its New Approach To Addressing Mental Health Crises:
Lewis and Clark County is a county of 72,000 people that encompasses Helena, Montana. Over the past few years, the county has embarked on a mission to ensure that “more residents [can] connect to holistic and equitable support for behavioral health and substance use services.” The county:
leveraged the 988 crisis hotline to provide “compassionate and accessible support for anyone experiencing mental health–related distress”;
launched a “Mobile Crisis Response Team” to handle situations where “an individual is in a mental or substance use crisis” with “trauma-informed care with dignity”; and
opened the “Journey Home Crisis Stabilization Facility” that’s open “24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a vision for no-wrong door access” where first responders can bring a person in crisis to receive treatment, be connected to services, and have a place to stay for up to two weeks.
And now the county has memorialized its vision— “a person to call (988), a person to respond (mobile crisis), a place to go (crisis stabilization facility” —for providing these integrated mental health services in a new public dashboard that provides transparency and accountability on a quarterly basis by providing granular details about the performance of each of these programs:
Related: ICYMI, Safer Cities recently published a mapping of the modern public safety infrastructure that’s consistent with —though more expansive than—the approach reflected in the Lewis and Clark County dashboard.
