![]() ![]() The team started responding to calls for Holland police and the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office in September. That frees up a lot of the road patrol officers to handle all the other calls coming in." "We're able to field some of the calls that happen repeatedly for high utilizers of 911, and then we're able to make contact and get them to whatever services they may need or want. "This can be seen as a preventative measure as well," Badur explained. It's an investment law enforcement agencies hope will create longer-term solutions to the public safety problems connected to untreated mental illness and other social issues. "Establishing that trust and rapport with the person and their family members, I think that's fairly priceless," said OCCMH clinician Amanda Sheffield, who also works full-time with the CIT program. "If someone needs to be sitting down and talking for an hour, we have the capacity to do that. "The really nice thing about CIT is there is not necessarily a time limit or a time crunch on calls," said Frankie Badur, mental health clinician with Ottawa County Community Mental Health. The counselors can spend more time with the people involved than the typical police-citizen encounter, allowing them to dig deeper into the person's needs. ![]() With CIT now we are able to have resources with us so we can try to prevent having to bring someone into a hospital or into a jail." "A lot of times, that would end up with that person being brought to a hospital, or if there was an issue other than that, they could be brought to the jail. "Prior to CIT, law enforcement would be answering calls from individuals that were in the middle of a crisis or suicidal ideations," said Michele Sampson, Ottawa County Sheriff's Office CIT deputy. The aim is to find appropriate, long-term help for people so they are not unnecessarily jailed or hospitalized for mental health issues that could be treated instead. On scene, the clinicians assess the person's needs and connect him or her with resources that might be able to help. "That's what we're really set up to handle, stuff where there's a lot of people needing different kinds of resources." "It's the more complicated stuff," said Tim Piers, CIT program coordinator. If they're not available, or a call comes in at night or on the weekend, the team follows up the next day. The officer-counselor duos are available five days a week to respond to calls involving suicidal people, substance abuse and any other behavioral health crises. have adopted CITs, with the goal of better outcomes for people in crisis. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 2,700 cities and counties across the U.S. The initiative, called a crisis intervention team, is not a new model. 21-OTTAWA COUNTY - In Holland, Zeeland and throughout Ottawa County, mental health clinicians this fall began riding along with cops in an effort to improve law enforcement's response to calls involving mental illness and other personal crises. Follow us on Twitter - the official Liverpool ECHO Twitter account - real news in real time.Add To Favorites New initiative pairs police with counselors for crisis callsĭec. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you by signing up to our daily and breaking newsletter. Police said enquiries into the incident are ongoing.įor the latest news and breaking news visit .uk/news Two women aged 35 and 31 years were also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and have been bailed pending further enquiries. They appeared at Preston Magistrates Court on Saturday, September 23, and were remanded in custody. Scott Chadwick-Greer, 30, of Oak Avenue, Thornton and Stephen Buckley, 39, of Lancaster Avenue, Thornton, have since been charged with possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply. ![]()
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