Over the last decade or so, mental health awareness has been on the rise, which has led to partnerships between organizations looking to provide more well-rounded care to all people. One of these partnerships is between law enforcement and mental health professionals. In Benton County, Corvallis Police Department, Benton County Sheriff’s Department, and Benton County Behavioral Health (BCBH) all work together to help provide the best level of support possible.
Captain Don Rogers of the Benton County Sheriff’s Department told The Advocate, “Those of us who work in Criminal Justice and the Mental Health professions have long recognized the need to address persons in crisis and recognize making an arrest is not always the most beneficial way to help the person or the community.”
Mental health professionals assist law enforcement in a number of ways. Rogers says there are several types of situations that often can benefit from a mental health professional’s expertise.
“We see these most frequently with Disorderly Conduct, Family Disturbances that do not rise to the level of a mandatory arrest, attempted suicide calls where the person has not yet taken steps to harm themselves, and assaults that do not rise to the level of a mandatory arrest,” Rogers said.
The goal of these partnerships is to keep people out of jail if at all possible.
“We work with law enforcement to assist with keeping individuals out of the jail,” Benton County Behavioral Health Deputy Director and Licensed Professional Counselor, Dannielle Brown, told The Advocate. “We have a jail and forensics team who work to decrease recidivism for individuals experiencing mental illness who are also interacting with the judicial system. This team is charged with working collaboratively to support these individuals with the goal of providing supports and services that will keep individuals stable and decrease interactions with law enforcement and the judicial system.”
According to Lieutenant Ryan Eaton of the Corvallis Police Department, the driving force to form partnerships with mental health professionals was an increase in call load for mental illness. “As CPD observed our calls for service involving mental health related issues escalate, we examined best practices in other jurisdictions. Using the information we gained over a variety of different programs utilized both regionally and nationally, we created our partnership in a way we felt was the best use of our resources and that fit the needs of the Corvallis community.”
How the Partnership Works
Within the current system, when a law enforcement officer encounters a person on a call that they think could benefit from the help of a mental health professional, they can reach out to the on-call person at Benton County Health who will hopefully be able to come to the location to assist.
“Many of these calls include individuals who are experiencing some type of psychiatric crisis and need support in the moment. This can vary between a person who is suicidal and wanting to harm themselves, to someone who is floridly psychotic and unable to have reality-based conversations,” Brown said. “Our on-call staff are very dynamic in their approach to individuals in crisis and will work to create the best outcome possible for the individual. Sometimes this is going to the hospital, sometimes it is coordinating with natural supports (friends and family) to help care for the person, sometimes it is providing in-the-moment counseling services.”
These professionals are highly skilled at what they do and receive extra training as well. Brown said, “Currently our on-call services are covered by 13 Masters level clinicians who are employed by the Benton County Health Department. We have two contracted individuals who are licensed clinicians who also help fill in for on-call services.”
In the best-case scenario, the partnership benefits officers as well as those living with mental illness.
“The biggest benefit to officers is when we can engage crisis counselors with an individual that has initiated multiple calls for service for police,” Eaton said, “and that engagement enables BCBH to get that person into treatment or care, which decreases the calls for service to the police and often, the public concern that initiates these calls in the first place.”
This partnership doesn’t just benefit residents and community members, but also the law enforcement officers themselves.
“Local law enforcement has received 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Training,” Rogers said. “Benton County Mental Health worked with our LE [Law Enforcement] partners to develop a curriculum to familiarize law enforcement with different mental health diagnosis and how to effectively interact with persons experiencing symptoms of their illness. The deputies have found this training to be very effective in dealing with persons in crisis.”
Nothing’s Perfect
The program however, is not without its flaws. Staffing, funding, and the realities of the mental health care system are all factors that keep this program from functioning at its finest.
Eaton said, “One of the challenges with the program is HIPPA (healthcare patient privacy laws) sometimes inhibits open communication on services being provided to clients in the community.” In other words, prevent the right services from being provided on a consistent basis for individuals who need them.
Not only that, but the program only works under certain circumstances.
“This program works when the person in crisis is not combative, unarmed, and willing to get help,” Rogers said. “It is a quick assessment and what amounts to a band-aid, but is not going to solve all the person’s problems in this one contact.” He also added that the number of mental health professionals is limited, making it hard for them to respond to calls that are too far away from the city.
“It is hard for someone from Benton County Mental Health to drive all the way out in the [country] in the middle of the night to help someone. There are safety concerns for the worker and it takes them away from being available to others,” Rogers said. “It is difficult for a Deputy to stay with a person in crisis for 30 minutes to an hour or longer waiting for a mental health professional to arrive. We do not always have the staffing to wait that long and sometimes it is difficult for the person in crisis to wait that long.”
Finally, staffing and funding are a struggle, and have been for some time.
“Limits of the program are really around staff capacity. We would love to have a larger team to cover crisis services without having to rely on staff who have other ‘day’ jobs, as is the case with all of our on-call staff members,” Brown said. “Additional funding would allow for identified staff members to be more available, perhaps even participating in ride along and coordinated responding with law enforcement.”
Challenges also include public expectation.
“The difficulty with all behavioral health services is that they are voluntary by nature. We do have some very limited capacity to compel services, but the rules around this are very strict and regimented, requiring a civil commitment hearing in a court of law. There is a perception that this should be easier to do generally from public because the perception is that if someone is behaving bizarrely, they should be able to be hospitalized,” Brown said. “However, Oregon rule requires that the person be an imminent danger to self or others, or immediately at risk due to inability to access care. This is a very high bar and creates many difficulties.”
For more information about this partnership, you can contact CPD, the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, or Benton County Behavioral Health.
By Kyra Young
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