Three Things To Read This Week

1. “More Minnesota Counties Are Sending Mental Health Professionals To 911 Callers In Crisis,” Instead Of Law Enforcement. 

For KSTP, Kirsten Swanson reports that nearly all of Minnesota’s 87 counties now direct mental health crisis calls to trained mental health professionals, rather than law enforcement. In 2021, Minnesota passed a new state law that “requires dispatchers refer mental health calls to trained crisis responders where available… when individuals in crisis call 911.” As Swanson noted, some counties were slow to develop their mental health crisis response resources, but as of this year, “just two counties… hadn’t referred crisis calls to mental health professionals.” 

How did the state make the shift? In part, Brent Anderson, operations director for Dakota 911, explained to the news station that “good, open communication [between the first responder agencies and dispatchers] … that’s the foundation of why things are working.” It’s also due to the success of Dakota County’s responder model, which integrates mental health professionals into 911 operations—which other counties in the state have now emulated.

Here’s How Dakota County’s Model Works: 

• When a person dials 911 for a mental health emergency, they reach a dispatch that is staffed with trained emergency dispatchers as well as mental health professionals from the county's Crisis Response Unit, to help route the call to the right responder: CRU team, police, fire or paramedics, depending on the situation.

• The caller goes through a screening process and if they “meet certain criteria, they are transferred to trained, mental health professionals” in the CRU

• The CRU then either “meet people in person or talk to them over the phone,” helping people receive treatment and connecting them to longer term services, if needed. 

Now, with this system in place, not only are more mental health crisis calls being handled by mental health experts, but most do not require police at all: “83% of calls don’t need to have law enforcement [to] go out there… that’s significant,” 911 dispatch director Anderson said to the news station.

2. Seattle’s Mobile Crisis Response Team Expands—Easing Pressure On Police.

For KOMO News in Seattle, Joel Moreno reports that as staffing shortages have continued for the Seattle Police Department, police officers have struggled to respond to the full range of emergency calls that come in—especially some mental health calls, because officers “were tied up with [responding to] serious crimes.” So, city leaders expanded its lauded mobile crisis response team, called Community Assisted Response and Engagement, or CARE, to handle the load.

The CARE team, “Seattle’s newest arm of public safety response, alongside police officers and firefighters,” is made up of mental health professionals specially trained in crisis intervention, respond to certain calls for service—like “welfare checks, person-down reports, and other types of low-level crisis calls” that frequently involve “people on the streets who are homeless, in crisis, or need help with issues like drug addiction.” 

• Freeing Up Law Enforcement. The CARE team “can take a significant amount of pressure off of officers who can focus on violent crimes and other priorities,” Moreno reported. That’s because, as Brooke Hernandez, a crisis responder who works on the CARE team, explained to the news station—“as soon as [the call is] handed it off to us, [the police go] on to other calls.”

• Staying On The Scene As Long As Needed. “Both police and fire are usually on a time crunch,” Hernandez explained, so the CARE unit was also specially designed to be able to stay on the scene as long as needed. At times, that means the team stays with the person as long as needed providing care, de-escalating crises, and connecting people to longer term services.

• Moving Beyond Jails And Emergency Rooms. Hernandez explained that it’s “important to have a [mobile crisis] team that can come, where people know they’re not going to get arrested or … forced to go [to a jail or emergency room], and [instead] they can talk to us about what they need—and we can spend that time” connecting them with resources and help prevent the next crisis.

3.  Sacramento County Sheriff: “Being Mentally Ill Is Not A Crime And We Can’t Be The Answer.”

For The Sacramento Bee, Rosalio Ahumada reported on Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper’s announcement that sheriff’s deputies will no longer be dispatched to mental health calls unless a crime is being committed, and instead mental health experts will respond. Here’s how Sheriff Cooper explained the reasoning behind the shift: 

“Being mentally ill is not a crime and we can't be the answer. Law enforcement officers are not trained mental health professionals. We're not psychiatrists and psychologists. We don't deal with it. We've had minimal training at de-escalation… We wear the badge, we carry the gun, we deal with crime, not mental health crises.”

Now, the sheriff explained, the county “will directly connect mental health calls without a crime component” to the mental health professionals at the 988 dispatch center. Callers can receive immediate services on the phone, and if needed, a mobile crisis response team will be dispatched. 

Dr. Jonathan Porteus, a licensed clinical psychologist and head of the mobile crisis response unit in the county, explained to CBS News, that “before 988, 911 was the only option in a mental health crisis… [which would lead to] a hospital, or to jail.” But now, “the behavioral health crisis continuum has grown” and mental health professionals can handle these calls for service. 

Related: As Safer Cities recently reported in a recent national survey 80% of voters say mobile crisis response units are “effective” at “making your community safer.” And when forced to choose, a strong majority of voters (58%) preferred to spend additional public safety dollars on mobile crisis units, over spending those funds on hiring more police officers “to address community safety.”