Saline County signs mental health responders program into action

A new program will go into effect after final county approval Tuesday, allowing for mental health co-responders to assist local law enforcement on calls which involve or potentially involve subjects in need of mental health services.

The move comes at a time where similar programs are gaining popularity nationwide, and as policing methods adapt to those trends.

According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, approximately 10% of police calls involve a person with mental illness. And this number is on the rise.

The Saline County Commission approved a memorandum of understanding Nov. 22 that will begin a program initially discussed by the commissioners last spring.

“We’ve got to lay a foundation and get started somewhere,” said County Commissioner Bob Vidricksen Tuesday.

Back in March, the County approved American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that was provided by the federal government in the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Relief Fund to jumpstart the program and its trial period of two years.

More:Saline County approves ARPA funding for mental health responders

At the time, the County had surveyed the public for input about how the federal relief money ought to be spent. One of the highest priorities of those who gave feedback was criminal justice and public safety.

“Saline County has been looking at this program for a while and when the ARPA funding became available, this is one of the things that we wanted to target,” County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said.

Mental health and law enforcement

The Commission moved the memorandum of understanding for mental health co-responders from the consent agenda and created a new action item for its approval, after a request to do so from Vidricksen.

The action prompted some additional discussion and background on the memorandum, with Smith-Hanes explaining its makeup and path to the agenda Tuesday. Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester, Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander and Central Kansas Mental Health Center Executive Director Glenna Phillips explained how their respective departments will work together on the project.

“The big thing will be is to divert them and not have to put them some place,” Phillips said. “It’s to address the crisis when it’s happening right then and there.”

The program will pay for two mental health clinicians at CKMHC who will serve as co-responders on law enforcement calls which involve individuals who may need mental health services.

It’s one of four ways the County has allocated the funds toward criminal justice initiatives. With the federal funds, the county has also: addressed the backlog in the court system at the city county building, began a grant program for local entities called “Safer and Healthier Saline County,” and began plans for court room renovations after the state allocated for two new district judges and a magistrate judge in the 28th Judicial District.

More:Saline County to remodel part of city county building for new judges

The co-responder program is similar to what Riley and Shawnee counties have implemented for service calls that include mental health services. Smith-Hanes and Forrester said they had consulted officials in those and other Kansas counties for what has worked successfully in their respective programs.

The memorandum has been batted back-and-forth between the county, city and mental health center to include slight changes from the initial language from March, adopting best practice advice from the counties they consulted before implementing the program.

Salina’s City Commission approved the memorandum at its Nov. 21 meeting.

Getting citizens mental health assistance

As the program currently reads, co-responders will ride with patrol officers on duty and be on standby at the station for when a call may require their services.

In instances where the co-responders are on standby, law enforcement will provide them with a vehicle to get to the scene to help the officer and assist in dealing with the person in a mental health crisis.

“The other part of that is we’re hoping that these folks will also be able to do follow-up services,” Forrester said. “Obviously to start out, we’re not going to have them 24/7.”

Forrester said on the days when the co-responders are not on duty, the police department or sheriff’s office would follow existing protocol for dealing with subjects in a mental health crisis. The following day, law enforcement agencies would provide a list to the co-responder of people the agency encountered while they were off duty.

Through this system, the clinicians get to see how law enforcement handles these types of calls, and the officers and deputies get to see how the clinicians talk to subjects and the questions they ask in moments of crisis. Education for both sides is equally important, Forrester said Tuesday.

As experts note, police officers are often called to solve problems that could be better addressed by mental health workers. The co-responder program is part of a growing movement set on figuring out how U.S. police reform can be centered on mental health.

Doing their part locally, Saline County’s co-responder program is designed to be proactive and preventative, overall, Melander said. The new county jail will have a clinician on staff that is separate from the co-responders program, but the two will likely work together for the sake of record keeping and helping people before a crisis leads to preventable illegal activity.

“Hopefully our records will intermix so that if we are out on the street, if a co-responder goes out, they can have access to what has happened to them in the past, including in the jail,” Melander said. “We think that’s going to be a big benefit to try and keep people out of the system.”

Melander said people dealing with homelessness and mental health issues are less likely to be able to make bonds if arrested, and having them housed in a jail instead of another facility where they can get adequate help leads to unnecessary time consumption on the law enforcement’s end.

“We’re looking forward to (the program),” Melander said. “I think it’s going to be a big benefit – we don’t know, that’s why it’s two years – but I think it is.”

County ARPA funding of $199,125 will pay for the two co-responders employed through CKMHC for two years. After that, if the program is deemed successful, the county or city would have the opportunity to fund the program out of its own resources in the future.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Saline County gives official nod to mental health responders program