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H-E-B police to add mental health coordinator for crisis calls

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - 9/22/2014

Sept. 21--A new mental health coordinator will help police officers in three Tarrant County suburbs respond to a growing number of calls involving mental health crises.

The coordinator, expected to be hired by Oct. 1, will help police deal with suicidal residents, hostage situations and even hoarders, among other kinds of calls.

"The police department spends an ever-increasing amount of its time and resources dealing with the segment of our population who suffer from mental health issues" said Euless Police Chief Mike Brown. "We continue to see a rise in the number of our residents who are in need of some type of mental health intervention."

Statistics in Hurst, Euless and Bedford show the number of crisis calls has increased since 2011 in all three cities. Crisis calls are those that ended with residents being sent to mental health services with or without their consent or taken to jail.

Six years ago, mental health professionals at MHMR of Tarrant County responded to 60 calls per month from police departments. These days, the agency gets about 800 per month from police agencies.

MHMR officials said the increase came about because the agency has reached out to police, and has had a long working relationship with the Hurst Police Department.

"We've had a good working relationship with those police departments through the years and this is just a great idea," said Ramey Heddins, director of mental health support services at MHMR of Tarrant County. "We have seven on staff now to help police departments in Tarrant County so we're glad for the assistance."

Storefront to open

Police received confirmation last week that they were were awarded a state grant to fill the new position. The job calls for someone with experience in counseling, social work and psychology. The coordinator will work with patrol officers, jailers, families, hospital staffs, advocacy groups and court staffs.

The $80,000 grant coupled with $20,000 from the cities will help expand a mental health law liaison project the cities have been involved with since 2008.

Hurst Police Chief Steve Moore said his department and several other suburban police agencies partnered with MHMR of Tarrant County for the project in which police worked closely with the agency to identify residents with mental health issues.

"A high percentage of contacts made by the Hurst Police Department and MHMR are health wellness checks to reduce emergency detentions," Moore said.

Three years ago, Bedford police created a repeat victimization unit, a group of officers accompanied by mental health professionals that visits residents to make sure they are current with medications and therapy.

The new hire goes a step further by placing a mental health professional in a storefront. The coordinator will work from a new police storefront on Pipeline Road in Hurst.

Hurst will close its police storefront on Texas 10 and open the new one on Pipeline Road near Bellaire Drive, in a building shared with Bedford police.

"The addition of a mental health coordinator for the H-E-B cities will assist officers in establishing a rapport with mental health patients and locating treatment options that best serve their needs," Bedford Police Chief Roger Gibson said. "This type of community outreach program will hopefully decrease the potential for repeat occurrences and help facilitate a faster and healthier recovery."

The coordinator will be responsible for follow-ups on cases as well as training for patrol officers, detectives, dispatchers, jailers and police civilians.

The normal mental health training for Texas police officers is three days of basic training on crisis intervention.

Some departments require 40 hours of additional training.

Hostages and hoarders

In many cases, the mental health coordinator will work as a hostage negotiator with suburban police department SWAT teams, police said.

"The person chosen for this position will be a mental health professional who will bring a unique skill set to every situation they encounter," Brown said. "I believe they will enhance our ability to effectively deal with potentially volatile situations, thereby giving the officers on the scene a greater chance of having a positive outcome when dealing with someone who is in a mental health crisis."

In addition to crisis calls, the mental health coordinator will go with officers to help on other kinds of calls, including reports of hoarding.

Hurst records indicated that officers and city officials have responded to 50 hoarding calls since 2010.

Hurst patrol officer Sara Tooker said hoarding is a symptom of mental illness.

"In the old days, an officer would just say, 'Clean it up'," Tooker said. "But now with a coordinator with us, we can offer more ways to manage the chaos."

Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763 Twitter: @mingoramirezjr

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