Mental Health Outreach

Mental health technicians will help officers decide if a person needs to be taken to a hospital for evaluation

"Our community deserves us to be well. Let's talk about mental health," Chief Brian Layton said

A report found 30% of PDs created programs that either paired specialists — like paramedics or therapists — with police or sent them to incidents in lieu of LEOs

“It allows our officers to deal with crime versus mental health calls, which are not necessarily our specialty."

In the program, a social work intern from Western Carolina University is placed in a local PD to serve as a community service liaison

The officers, who spent close to 90 minutes talking to the man, had just gone through training for this type of situation

More than 3,000 people are living without shelter in Portland, a 50% jump from 2019, with more than 700 encampments across the city

The students helped connect officers with resources to divert people from jail into community programs

The government will be offering $1M grants starting next year for up to 15 states to expand current mental health centers

"This is one of those changes in policing we will continue to see grow because of the national attention around police response to mental crisis calls."

As officers were attempting to speak with the woman, she jumped in the unlocked vehicle and placed the car in drive, while officers struggled to pry the door open

Police response to these medical emergencies should focus on intervention and treatment of the patient

Crisis response teams have been slower to catch on in rural areas even though mental illness is just as prevalent there

Porter Burks, who was fatally shot after charging at officers with a knife, had a long history of mental illness

Federal money will allow communities to send mental health workers instead of police to incidents that involve non-violent behavioral health emergencies