Why mental health providers should aid many 911 callers
I am encouraged by the March 25 Morning Call article regarding Allentown’s partnership with Cedar Crest College to conduct data-driven research to evaluate local police practices.
The partnership came about following national and local protests of the police killings of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor as well as a local police-related violent episode. While I believe this data is valuable, I am concerned that the article states, “once survey results are received, police leaders will meet with city and Lehigh County officials to discuss whether any crisis intervention or training would require changes.”
Changes are definitely needed and we don’t need to wait three years.
The Allentown Police Department has already done extensive research into alternative 911 emergency responses that could go a long way to reducing unwarranted injury, trauma and incarceration for nonviolent noncriminal behaviors.
According to Allentown Police Chief Glenn Granitz, in 2019, city police received over 100,000 calls for service. Of those, up to 10% were related to mental health.
The number 911 is the most frequently called number in response to an emergency. Allentown’s 911 response system sends police to all
911 emergency calls, whether the calls involve violence or criminal activity or nonviolent, noncriminal issues such as mental health, homelessness, intoxication or substance abuse.
As a result, too often our police are in a position where they must deal with these issues for which they may not have professional mental/ behavioral health or social work training.
In Lehigh County, 5,250 people were committed to jail, according to the Lehigh County Criminal Justice Advisory Board Data Committee Report Year End 2019. Of those people, 1,245 required a mental health evaluation and 1,154 underwent medically supervised detoxification.
Incarceration not only fails to correct these problems but instead often exacerbates them. We can reduce the number of mentally ill people going into prison, admitted to the emergency room against their will, and the trauma experienced by those in a behavioral health crisis by modifying our 911 dispatch system.
I’ve researched many alternative
911 programs that work in collaboration with local police, community service organizations or mental health services, through my work with local organizations involved with criminal justice reform.
What they all have in common is they try to respond to nonviolent, noncriminal emergency calls in a way that will reduce or even eliminate death, injury, trauma, or incarceration and provide follow-up case management to reduce repeat calls from the same person.
An increasing number of programs avoid sending police whenever possible. Many are started as pilot programs. Some are referred to as “co-responder” models, in which a crisis intervention team includes a police officer and an EMT or mental health worker who go to the scene.
Once the situation is made safe, officers can move to other incidents requiring their attention while a mental health professional or social worker stays behind with the individual. Some cities have a combination of both a co-responder model as well as an unarmed dispatch of a trained mental health professional, social worker or EMT.
I recently participated in a virtual stakeholders meeting, hosted by The Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, to introduce nearly three dozen Allentown and Lehigh county officials, policy makers, possible funders and those involved with the logistics of our 911 system to two alternative emergency response programs: CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) of Eugene, Oregon and the newly formed Bensalem/Bucks County’s co-responder model.
In 2019, CAHOOTS’ unarmed staff received roughly 24,000 calls for service, out of which only 150 calls requested police backup. In 2018⁄2019, the program saved the city an estimated $8.5 million in public safety spending and $14 million in emergency medical system costs, including transport and emergency room treatment.
While a stated duty of our police is to remain alert to the emergency needs of our citizens, what is often needed is a mental health professional or social worker, not two armed police officers, however well meaning. Programs such as CAHOOTS and co-responder programs free up police to deal with crime and crime prevention.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, popularly known as the COVID19 Stimulus Package, reportedly will allocate $72 million to Lehigh County and $57 million to Allentown this year. Our county and city officials need to make sure a portion of these funds pay for hiring, salary and benefits for mental health provider first responder units.
In addition, input from the community needs to be part of the choice of an alternative 911 response program.
None of us is immune from having behavior health or substance abuse issues. The next call may be your son, daughter, wife, husband, neighbor or friend.