Law enforcement, lawmakers work toward solution to mental health crisis in Virginia - WSET
CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Mental health calls are weighing heavy on law enforcement across the Central Virginia area.
When Sgt. Jenna Collins starts her shift with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, she is ready to fight crime, but other days she’s on mental health calls.
“It is difficult when you want to be out there you know taking calls and helping out and you’re sitting at the hospital instead," Sgt. Collins said,
Those mental health calls can range from a wellness check to a drug overdose.
The call starts when a person is at risk of harming themselves or others - that includes if someone is suicidal or homicidal.
If an officer or deputy determines this person is unsafe to themselves or the public, then an emergency custody order (ECO) is issued, and an officer or deputy takes custody of that person.
Law enforcement, in the Central Virginia area, would then take that person from wherever they are to Lynchburg General Hospital.
This is where hospital staff, or Horizon Behavioral Health, will give the patient an evaluation to determine if a temporary detention order (TDO) is necessary. If it is, that individual would need to go to a state mental health facility.
"Then it’s just waiting," said Sgt. Collins.
The wait time to get a patient admitted to a state hospital, can take hours or even days.
By law, under state code, law enforcement has to sit with that patient through this process, which takes officers and deputies off the streets to patrol in the community.
"When everybody’s tied up on mental health calls - not that those aren’t important - it makes it difficult for us to do what we want to do for our citizens," Sgt. Collins added.
In the past several years, the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office said they’ve seen an increase in mental health calls, in part due to drug abuse and addiction.
For example, in 2014, the Sheriff's Office had 138 calls, but last year they had 294 calls and spent more than 1,600 hours on mental health calls.
"That’s a lot to have law enforcement officers off the road doing their job," said Capt. Clifford Wood with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office.
Capt. Wood said there’s an average of five deputies per shift. For example, if three of the five deputies are handling mental health calls, it can make answering other calls more difficult, which Wood said is concerning.
"Sometimes that leaves us down to two officers covering over 500 square miles of Campbell County and providing service for our community," he added.
Administrators said fewer law enforcement on the road could impact how quickly folks get service.
To give some perspective, let's say there’s a handful of deputies out working a shift, and a few are in the Timberlake area patrolling, which is in the northern part of Campbell County, but then there’s a call for service in Brookneal, which is in the southern part of the county.
“Normally we would have someone over there," said Sgt. Collins.
But, if a few deputies are handling mental health calls response times can vary.
"Now that’s a much slower response time," Sgt. Collns said.
There’s also an added risk with mental health calls.
"They can go from calm to full-on fight and so we’ve had deputies hurt because of that," said Capt. Wood.
The calls are hurting the office's bottom line too.
The Sheriff’s Office said last August it responded to two mental health calls that lasted six days. Deputies were with those two individuals for 264 hours, and 75 of those hours were overtime. It cost the county more than $2,500.
Now, Campbell County’s sheriff is one of the many members of law enforcement working to find a solution.
"We need help," said Sheriff Whit Clark. “It’s tough on everyone."
Sheriff Clark said he immediately took those issues to lawmakers to see what can be done.
"Well, making sure - first and foremost - we are always going to respond to people in crisis," Clark said when asked what a perfect solution looks like to him. "In my opinion, they need to be turned over to the professional who can give them that help and my deputies and law enforcement can back away."
Sheriff Clark started reaching out to other law enforcement in the Central Virginia area. Clark said Lynchburg police and the Bedford and Amherst County Sheriff’s Offices are all having the same problem.
“And then collaboratively, we started meeting with legislators and going, ‘Hey, we need some help with this,'" he said.
Republican State Senator Steve Newman is one of the many legislators involved to help find a solution.
He has a bill, SB 593, on the table that’s a temporary fix.
This bill includes alternative ways to transport a person in need of mental health services when a TDO is issued.
Auxiliary officers would execute the ECO instead of officers and deputies. The auxiliary officers would be trained within three weeks to then handle mental health calls.
“That hopefully will be a Band-Aid fix," said Newman.
The other solution would be a long-term fix. The Central Virginia Training Center in Amherst County would turn into a triage center, also called a regional crisis receiving center or Crisis Response Center, by this summer.
It’s a $2.6 million project Newman hopes will be included in the final state budget.
It would give those individuals in need of service, waiting to be admitted to a mental health hospital, immediate assistance once law enforcement drops them off after a mental health call.
But still, by law, those officers or deputies would have to sit with that individual while they wait to go to a state facility. Newman said Horizon or a private mental health agency would staff the center.
“And that’s critical, I think, for the individual that needs help, but it’s also critical for public safety to get those officers back on the street," said Newman.
In a statement regarding the center, Horizon said:
“Horizon has submitted a proposal for funding to establish a Crisis Response Center (CRC) to serve individuals who are experiencing a crisis due to mental health, substance use or co-occurring disorders. This model is intended to provide relief to local and state hospitals as well as local law enforcement by offering alternative access to crisis services and natural supports locally in the least restrictive setting.”
Newman also filed a bill, SB 202, for a more long-term solution. It requires both the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and Public Safety and Homeland Security to study ways to better handle mental health calls. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate.
Over in the House, Democratic Del. Sam Rasoul is looking at a more deep-rooted solution to Virginia’s mental health crisis.
“I’ve been able to find some great colleagues on both sides of the aisle in our region and say, ‘We need to tackle this,’ and really try to own substance abuse, mental health issues and not just have band-aids all the time," Del. Rasoul said.
Rasoul proposed a bill, HB 105, to have the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services conduct a study to transform Catawba Hospital in Roanoke County into a substance abuse and mental health treatment center. It passed unanimously in the House.
“So imagine the state-of-the-art campus that we can have in our region that can really be the backbone of some of this support," he said.
All of these solutions are contingent upon both sides finding common ground. Until then, Sheriff Clark is grateful lawmakers are making this a priority.
“The fact that we’re working towards a good end goal is going to benefit everyone," Sheriff Clark said.
Horizon and Centra Health are also a part of the discussion to find a solution for the rise in mental health calls and how law enforcement plays a role in this.
In a statement, Horizon said:
“As a Community Service Board, we are committed to the early identification and response to needs expressed by the communities we serve as well as strengthening systems of care that exist between local law enforcement and healthcare sectors.”
In a statement, Centra said:
"The Lynchburg Behavioral Health Collaborative has voluntarily come together to work on the micro issue of the impact of ECOs and TDOs on law enforcement availability in our communities and the macro issue of how we can collectively advocate for behavioral health system reform in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The LBHC is comprised of officials from Lynchburg City, members of the Lynchburg Police Department, Horizon Behavior Health and Centra Health providers and executives specific to behavioral health."
The Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin provided a statement from Secretary of Health and Human Resources, John Littel:
"The Administration is working with legislators in both parties and with key stakeholders to provide some relief to the behavioral health crisis, particularly providing alternatives to relying on law enforcement for extended custody of patients when there is a delay admitting them to a hospital. We are hopeful we can address this crisis with legislation and budget action this session, and continue to work with law enforcement, health care providers, and other stakeholders on longer-term solutions."
source: https://wset.com/news/abc13-investigates/law-enforcement-mental-health-calls-lawmakers-mental-health-crisis-in-virginia-work-toward-solution-campbell-county-sheriffs-office-steve-newman-sam-rasoul-richmond-general-assembly-february-23-2022
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