SF starts non-police behavioral response

[Coyotesfan97]

A small step in changing the default 911 response:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...th-emergencies

President Trump has signed into law a bipartisan bill to create a three-digit number for mental health emergencies. The Federal Communications Commission had already picked 988 as the number for this hotline and aims to have it up and running by July 2022. The new law paves the way to make that a reality.

"A national three-digit number will make it far easier for millions of Americans to reach out for help and get immediate connection to care when they're experiencing a mental health or suicidal crisis," says Kimberly Williams, president and CEO of Vibrant Emotional Health, the organization that runs the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. "Most importantly, 988 will help save lives."

The new law helps solve this problem, say Gebbia and Williams, because it provides funding and resources to boost the capacity of local crisis centers to handle call volumes, which are expected to go up once 988 is up and running in 2022.

Right now, many people end up relying on 911 for these emergencies. And the cases are handled by the police and hospital emergency departments.

"But often, the person can be helped just by a conversation," he adds. "We don't have to dispatch police."

It should be 918. That’s our crazy code

[Coyotesfan97]

Our Fire counterparts actually had a great pilot program going. They had three trucks set up with a Paramedic, a PA, and a mental Heath expert. It was one stop shopping. The PA could clear suspects suffering from incareritus and the mental health guy/gal could help expedite involuntary commit all. It helped keep fire trucks in the station. Of course it was a budget cut.

We have a Crisis Response Team unit set up with two detectives and a sometimes mental health expert riding together. IIRC there are eight detectives and a sergeant on the squad. They mostly work day shift and they handle a lot of the Mental Health Detainers that come in. I’m not sure how many CIT Officers we have but it’s a 40 hour training block.

As far as SFs program I see a constant stream of assistance calls where patrol has to go in first and give the Code 4. Itvsounds good on paper but we’ll see what happens when the rubber meets the road.

[willie]

Absenteeism will deflate these programs. In any case, the leader must be competent and able to build consensus. Since different departments are providing personnel, a turf war could erupt. Further office space, which is always premium, will have to be found. I see this bunch shoved in a shithole and managed by some person not wanted elsewhere. If I had been in the 101 Airborne, the 1st sgt would have put me in charge of the audio-visual equipment despite the fact that I qualified expert with various weapons. They will see many AV equipment operators in these programs.

[jnc36rcpd]

The county executive and council in my jurisdiction (who know best) have decided response by social workers is the way to go. Crisis center employees, who work closely with law enforcement, have been told to get on board or get gone.

Since police are all murdering racists, I think the inter-agency protocol should require mental health professionals be required to put eyes on the situation before calling for law enforcement back-up. Absent an actual crime being reported, the protocol should prohibit MHP's from calling for assistance because the calls sounds scary or Crazy Joe has been violent with MHP's on previous calls or, worst of all, because it's a sketchy neighborhood (which might be racist or, at least, classist).

Law enforcement also needs to ensure that calls for back-up are documented. We need to ensure that we know (and can state and/or publicize) how many times the MHP's needed the cops. Facts are facts. It does no good for law enforcement, MHP's or the public, if the civilian crisis response team program is deemed a complete success by smiling leftist politicians when the MHP's needed police assistance X percentage of the time.

I am somewhat confused how the SF teams will handle involuntary commitments. Will they attempt to commit and transport emergency petitions on their own or will they need to call the always racist murdering police? Will we soon deal with complaints of racism, insensitivity, and excessive force by firefighters, perhaps assisted by the more physically fit and assertive MHP's?

[andre3k]

I'm all for it, fewer calls for service.

[LittleLebowski]

I'm all for it, fewer calls for service.

Smile and wave?

[Oldherkpilot]

Smile and wave?

"Sitting there on that sack of seed."

[jd950]

1. This will really annoy the suicide-by-cop callers, who will have to get a bit creative to accomplish their goals. Maybe take a hostage or two?

2. Thinking of starting a pool on how long it will be before before the plan will change and unarmed response folks show up, stage, and have the situation cleared by a cop before going in.

Frankly, in my experience, most cops would prefer not to handle the emotional crisis, overdose, "I just need someone to talk to" calls anyway, but the reality is that counting on callers, call takers and dispatch to identify which situations requires police vs social workers is going to be, um, challenging.

Some local agencies around here have social worker types on duty in vehicles and get started towards likely calls to take over when appropriate, and some have cop & social worker teams assigned to areas to respond to such calls, but I don't see long-term success sending in the touchy-freely people alone, and I fear for their safety. It will just result in sending in cops afterwards, possibly on an emergency basis and therefore requiring more manpower, more vehicles, more paperwork and more money and probably accomplishing little.

Hopefully I am completely wrong and these people can handle all the tinfoil hat, medical and similar calls and leave the cops out of it, and I wish them success, but I have my doubts.

[willie]

Somebody will think up this solution which is to include an unarmed cop on these teams. Off duty guys who desire overtime will apply. This will give Hambo and others opportunity to make extra money.

[WOLFIE]

I can see where it would have worked on a friend's brother who had some sort of breakdown, but it worked out with just the two cops who responded. For the full on, batshit crazy, it won't work, but if the subject stabs a social worker first, the OIS is good.

The main issues I can see after some thought are that unless there is a useful mental health system available post-response, it's all just another waste of time. The problem on the LE-FD side is how officers and medics are assigned. I can tell you, in the city I worked in, in either department, it would have been a punishment detail or a place to dump some dead wood.

I also suggest red Star Trek shirts as the uniform for the mental health people.

I just started reading this thread and someone else may have mentioned the following : Hambo has a really good point. There has to be useful mental health treatment post-response.

In my state, Louisiana, some police officers are CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) trained and certified and Orders of Protective Custody are also used. Regarding an OPC, an officer can bring someone to a hospital with an emergency room for the purpose of being evaluated by the ER physician. The Office of the Coroner issues the OPC. Under state law, an officer can bring someone to the hospital against a person's will if there is an OPC for that person. The ER physician can write a Physician Emergency Certificate and take away someone's freedom for the purpose of being treated. The coroner will examine the patient after the PEC is done and most likely write a CEC for the patient.

I am a police officer in Louisiana and my prior job (LE) was working as a university police officer at a hospital. This hospital is in a state university system and is considered to be a state university. There are of course other hospitals with emergency rooms but this hospital was the best equipped regarding handling violent psychiatric patients. There is also a psychiatric unit in this hospital. During a twelve hour shift, I would serve (I am a public servant) three to four people in need or in possible need of mental health treatment.

Most health care professionals do not want to go hands on with a resistive person and want someone else to do it. This is not meant to be negative toward health care professionals. I think others have said what I am about to say just in a different way. I foresee three phases that the team goes through. Phase one: The team does their job in good faith and members of the team get hurt. Phase two: Police are notified when they are in route to a crisis and asked to be available. Phase three: The police go with them on every call.