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Law enforcement is a hot topic these days. I hope that you find this topic both interesting and informative. On Thursday, August 13th there was a live streamed panel discussion held in the House of Representative Chamber of the state of Pennsylvania located in Harrisburg. One of the panelist was Cory Coharmer who is the Mental Health Program Specialist Coordinator of the Crisis Intervention Team of Franklin County in Fulton PA. Fulton is located in South Central PA. It is a watershed of Chesapeake Bay and it is drained by the Potomac River.

According to Wikipedia, a Crisis Intervention Team or CIT, is a police mental health collaborative. The CIT’s and other mental health professionals create programs to train law enforcement to help them to have safer interactions with people who have mental illness. Ms. Charmer’s CIT group held ten forty hour a week training sessions of over 180 individuals. The participants were law enforcement, first responders, 911 dispatchers, probation officers, correction officers, and some hospital workers. Over half of the people were Law Enforcement and first responders. CIT is more than just training but it is a relationship between Law enforcement and the mental health community.

The police chiefs and sergeants were involved with the development of the program. In 2017 the CIT members were given a two-year grant to pilot the co-responder model. As a result, a mental health professional was allowed to work out of three local police departments. Each morning she made live runs, went on live calls, made follow-up calls, and follow-up visits. The goal set by the CIT members was to see 85 persons in two years and get 75 of them to participate in community base services. Within 4 months they had seen 80 people. Within 8 months they had another 75 people participating in community base services. After two years 92 percent of the people did not have any further contact with police. As as result of the success of the program, they were given money to get another mental health professional.

The CIT responded to calls where a person was exhibiting strange behaviors, where someone was trying to commit suicide, domestic violence situations , a person who had made frequent calls to 911, and situations with homeless people. Ms Cohamer described two incidents were the intervention of a mental health professional yielded positive outcomes. The 911 dispatcher received a call that a man was picking flowers out of different people’s lawns, giving them to women who were passing by, making inappropriate suggestions to the women. Over the course of nine days, he had contact with four additional police departments. He kissed an employee of a fast food restaurant, was picking through the trash, peered into a school window, and stole a wedding cake. A co-responder began working with the individual. He was able to get the man an appointment with a psychiatrist, get him a treatment plan, refer him to the Veterans Administration, and get a case manager for him who helped the man to figure things out with his health insurance. As a result of the intervention the gentlemen had no further contact with police. In another incident a 911 dispatcher received a mental health distress call. A co-responder took the call. During the course of the conversation the co-responder asked the caller if she was feeling suicidal. The lady said, “Yes.” The co-responder asked her if she had a plan. The caller said, “I have a loaded revolver in my drawer.” The worker was able to talk lady into going with the police officer to a crisis treatment center.

Non-trained police officers should not have to navigate mental health situations because they don’t have the skills to do so. They should be interacting with criminals. Mental health people should take care of mental health situations because they have expertise in that area.

The mental health program in Franklin County lasted four or five years. Eight hundred people with mental illness received services 91% of whom did not have any further contact with the police. After the COVID-19 pandemic is over the mental health professionals will resume training people.

By Renee D. Warring Founder of Uniquely and Wonderfully Made Ministries