York City Police offer new registry to aid responders in mental health calls

Katia Parks, York Daily Record
·3 min read
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York City Police commissioner Michael Muldrow, center, outlines plans to address violence in front of York City Police in 2021.

The York City Police department is offering a new form that will allow residents to register people who suffer from mental illness.

Since 2015, nearly a quarter of all people killed by police officers in America have had a known mental illness, according to The Washington Post. In Pennsylvania, Christian Hall was having a mental health crisis when he was fatally shot by Pennsylvania State Police on Dec. 30, 2020, according to CNN.

In York, the new Handle with Care registry form is the police department's effort to address the ongoing national problem of officers fatally shooting or injuring a person who is in the middle of having a mental crisis.

"After seeing so many of the incidents that were occurring around the nation," said York City Police Commissioner Muldrow, "seeing how officers were responding and some of the unintended tragic outcomes that were occurring, I immediately went into a lot of thought and evaluation on what can we do as a department, law enforcement and as a whole."

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Muldrow took his idea to Facebook to hear back from the community.

The response was overwhelming. Some residents have already expressed interest in registering themselves, according to Muldrow

A few residents expressed concerns about the information being revealed, should it become public, while others said that everyone should be handled with care and that there should not be a list.

"To my surprise, it was overwhelming from a lot of the partners we work with like WellSpan," Muldrow said. "The thing that overwhelmed me the most was the funders that came out of the woodwork and the help that we started to receive from researchers and colleges in the area and afar."

One of the partners that reached out to Muldrow was Hanover Borough Police Lt. Joseph Bunty. His department will also have a registry form for people with mental illness.

"We are committed to supporting members of the community with diversities, and we recognize those diversities include mental health aspects," Bunty said. "So we look forward to being a part of the program, better serving the community, and making the world a better place."

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Anyone can register themselves or family members by visiting yorkcitypolice.com and searching for the form under the "Services" tab.

Any valuable information that should be known by officers can be added to the form including the name of the mental illness, triggers, and calming methods that will help de-escalate the situation.

"We want to put this valuable information in the hands of our officers," said York City Police Lt. Daniel Lentz. "When officers are armed with this information, they can have an appropriate response to those with a mental illness."

The information can be accessed by all York City officers through their Report Management database by typing a person's name. Information will not be available to the public.

The department welcomed its first co-responder this month. The co-responder will be called to the scene to provide extra attention and resources to the family or person that needs mental health help.

"The form will provide years of information to an officer that must act in seconds," Muldrow said.

Katia Parks covers public safety issues for the York Daily Record. Please feel free to reach her atKParks@ydr.com. Follow her on Facebook (@Katia Parks), Twitter (@parksphoto), and Instagram (@katia.l.parks).

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York police offer form for residents that suffer from mental illness.