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Jefferson County law enforcement, mental health agencies work together to fill gaps

Watertown Daily Times (NY) - 7/1/2015

July 01--Tweet

WATERTOWN -- Progress is being made on a countywide initiative aimed at preventing people with a mental illness from being jailed unnecessarily.

The Behavioral Health/Criminal Justice Collaboration project was developed by a group of representatives from the county's mental health and law enforcement agencies.

Timothy J. Ruetten, coordinator of mental health services for the Jefferson County Department of Community Services, said the project has the potential to make some important changes.

"We are trying to make sure individuals suffering from mental health disorders get the help they need instead of being sent to jail," he said.

Mr. Ruetten has taken a lead role in the project, pulling together the responsible agencies, organizing meetings and researching potential funding sources and existing models from other counties.

He moderated an initial summit for the project in January, which was organized with the help of Sheriff Colleen M. O'Neill, Jefferson County Community Services Director Roger J. Ambrose and Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa.

Most recently, the group worked together with Policy Research Associates, Delmar, to complete a sequential intercept mapping workshop June 17.

Mr. Ruetten said the map will help illustrate the flow of the county's criminal justice system from arrest to incarceration and beyond. It also will help the county identify gaps in mental and behavioral health services at different stages of this flow.

Mr. Ruetten said he expects the map to be completed within a couple of weeks, at which time a steering committee will analyze it and discuss plans for the future.

"We'll see what we get back, identify the gaps and really build a system to address them," he said.

While some unseen gaps are expected to be revealed after the county receives its sequential intercept map, Mr. Ruetten said others are more obvious.

Limited Options

When law enforcement officers respond to a scene where a person is showing signs of mental illness, Mr. Ruetten said, there are essentially two options: take the person to jail, or take the person to the emergency room.

There are some instances in which incarceration or hospitalization is unavoidable, but Mr. Ruetten said implementing a third option is crucial to the community.

He said the creation of a crisis or respite center, where law enforcement could take subjects of emotional disturbance calls, would fill a large gap in Jefferson County.

"We're talking about people with an emotional crisis," he said. "The process of being arrested is a traumatic event."

Not only would a center like this benefit the individual, Mr. Ruetten said, it also would take considerable strain off jails and hospitals.

"It's not just about the folks suffering," he said. "It places a burden on police officers, corrections officers, medical staff and especially family. There has to be a better network of care."

The Behavioral Health/Criminal Justice Collaboration project is also exploring the idea of training police officers in behavioral de-escalation techniques and mental health first aid. Mr. Ruetten said he already conducts trainings like these for probation officers and some corrections officers in the area.

Ideally, he said, a large portion of incidents could be resolved at the scene with the proper training.

"The hope is that training will help (officers) identify people dealing with mental issues and de-escalate the situation," he said.

In a report presented at the summit, Mr. Ruetten referred to the Emotionally Disturbed Persons Response Team used in Rochester. Prior to the team's training, police officers were injured on 12 percent of responses to mental health incidents. After the training, no officers were injured, and the use of force dropped from 20 to 3 percent.

Since such a training would last about 40 hours over the course of five days, Mr. Ruetten said, that is a potential obstacle for training full-time law enforcement officers, but he said he is hopeful the steering committee will have ideas on how to work around this.

Increased Communication

Mr. Ruetten said another goal of the project is to explore new ways for mental health workers to collaborate with law enforcement officers, and vice versa.

By bringing both sides together to understand one another's duties and concerns, he said, Jefferson County can begin to treat mental illness more effectively while freeing up other valuable resources.

"It's really important that we all understand each other's part," Mr. Ruetten said.

He said better communication could be as simple as implementing technology that would allow mental health providers, substance abuse counselors and law enforcement officers to share documents.

Sheriff O'Neill expressed agreement when she attended the summit. She said in January that better communication was critical to reducing jail overcrowding and ensuring that inmates with mental health issues receive necessary care.

"If we don't know what has been tried and what has worked and what hasn't worked, we can't medically bridge the gaps," she said. "That will be a priority of mine. People who need medical attention, drugs or counseling services, we will make sure those services are available to them."

Communication initiatives also would extend to the public. Mr. Ruetten said the project will aim to increase community awareness of mental illness, an issue he said many people are confused or threatened by.

"There's still a stigma with mental illness," he said.

To begin working on these initiatives, Mr. Ruetten said, the county is hoping to receive grant funding from a partnership between the state Department of Criminal Justice Services and Office of Mental Health.

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