Starting July 1, the Corvallis Police Department will implement a new program to beef up their current mental health response.
Currently, the mental health response in the department comes in the form of CPD officers being able to contact Benton County Health Department (BCHD) crisis workers in the field using a pager. Then, if needed, the BCHD crisis worker travels to where their assistance is required.
In the program proposal sent to The Advocate regarding the new program, co-writers CPD Chief Nick Hurley and Behavioral Health Deputy Director Dannielle Brown say this process is “time consuming for Law Enforcement and creates longer wait times in calls for service for subsequent callers.”
Pilot Program
Instead of creating a new program, the plan is to create a phased approach.
“In order to expand on systems already in place rather than creating secondary crisis response systems, we propose that the community begin with a team of individuals that will co-respond to all calls related to behavioral health calls for assistance during specifically identified hours. This will be a pilot project to assist with determining need in the community, while also assisting with community safety and safety of staff,” they write.
The CPD and BCHD propose that the new program will consist of one two-person team, a CPD officer and a BCHD Qualified Mental Health Professional who will respond to specific calls, Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
“This shift will allow for expanded coordination with social service agencies, treatment providers, community partners, and other parties, all during business hours, to have visibility and access to this team,” the proposal says.
Both CPD and BCHD will redirect one full time employee to be on the team. Beyond responding to calls and being used to collect data, the members of the team will have other responsibilities.
“Each agency will have additional supportive duties occurring during downtime, to include tasks such as coordination of ongoing Crisis Intervention Trainings, outreach to high needs community members, and tracking and cross reporting for all individuals taken into custody on a Peace Officer Custody,” the proposal says. “This will include appropriate follow-up for after-hours calls related to behavioral health conditions, to be done collaboratively by this team.”
Short and Long-Term Goals
The goal of the pilot program goes beyond the short-term aspect of adding a mental health professional to the field during certain hours.
“The long-term intention of this pilot project is to determine the need and sustainability of a crisis response program, to include whether this should or should not include law enforcement partners as first responders, to calls for service related to behavioral health needs,” the proposal says.
Data about calls by the pilot team that ended up having a force response, how many and how frequent calls where, when calls were most likely to be made, things that work well, and limitations of this model will be collected to determine need.
All the data will be shared with a subcommittee on the Willamette Criminal Justice Council (WCJC) — a council of people from different governmental branches that collaborate to coordinate justice plans within the county.
A subcommittee called the Mental Health/Law Enforcement Crisis Response Subcommittee was created to improve the response to those in crisis. It was formed in December 2020 and meets every month, according to Jodi Robin, the coordinator for both the group and the subcommittee.
Before deciding on the current proposal about what would work best for the community, CPD Captain Joel Goodwin said the group reviewed many different crisis response models, including that of Eugene’s White Bird Clinic’s CAHOOTS program, an alternate option to police response with a team consisting of a medic and a crisis worker.
Now that the pilot program is established, the members of the subcommittee will be in charge of determining the efficacy of the pilot program and if need be, where and how it will change and evolve.
“The data will be collected and shared quarterly with the WCJC Crisis Response Subcommittee for evaluation, discussion and advisement on direction of pilot program,” the proposal says.
Additional Information
To get in contact with the response team, community members can call dispatch, Robin said, though in the future they may have a direct number.
If the team cannot be reached, other BCMH staff and CPD officers will assist until the team or others can arrive, Robin said, and that data will be tracked and presented to the subcommittee as well as the full justice council.
“The team will be doing lots of outreach and follow-up for any calls for service that may pertain to them, especially for calls they may have missed due to off hours or being on other calls,” Robin said. “The program is a pilot project which gives it an opportunity to fluctuate and change as needed. The plan is to see if it is helping and adjust/tweak the program as needed to best cover the need.”
The members of the subcommittee are: County Commissioner Xan Augerot, District Attorney John Haroldson, Behavioral Health Deputy Director Dannielle Brown, Corvallis Police Department Chief Nick Hurley, Albany Police Department Chief Marcia Harnden, OSU’s Counseling & Psychological Services Director Ian Kellems, OSU’s Vice President for Public Relations Steve Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Good Samaritan Regional Medical CenterLaura Hennum, OSU’s associate vice president for public safety and Corvallis campus chief of police Shanon Anderson, and Interim Benton County Sheriff Jefri VanArsdall.
By: Hannah Ramsey
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