A mental health crisis intervention program is in operation once again in Springfield, Massachusetts.
After a two month lapse due to a lack of funds, mental health professionals are once again responding –sometimes at the request of police officers, sometimes independently – to emergency calls in Springfield.
The police department received a $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health to fund for 12 months the program that has three clinicians from Behavioral Health Network (BHN) working out of the Metro Division police sub-station equipped with their own police radios and bulletproof vests, said Springfield Police Lt. Ronald Sheehan.
“It is a faster response time to help calm the situation and provide the services that might be needed,” he said.
Advocates for a non-police response to incidents where someone is having a mental health crisis contend the presence of armed officers can make the situation worse.
But deciding when mental health professionals should answer an emergency call can be a difficult choice, Sheehan said, and is usually based on information such as a past history of violence.
“Our crime analysis (unit) is very good at determining if someone has a past history of firearms violence and such they will have that information dispatched to the vehicles responding to the scene,” Sheehan said.
Prior to receiving the state funding recently, BHN paid for the program, but concluded it could no longer afford to do so.
Although lacking in data about the initiative so far, Sheehan said he believes it has been successful.
“As far as the behavioral health crisis going on in the city and the response we have, I want to keep this going in the right direction and expand it as much as possible,” Sheehan said.
City Councilor Victor Davila, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said the initiative has many benefits.
“It allocates resources better, keeps costs down and relieves pressure on our local hospitals,” Davila said.
Councilor Zaida Govan, who chairs the Sub-committee on Menth Health, called the crisis intervention program a valuable resource.
“I think it is an excellent model that I am really glad the police department is interested in continuing,” Govan said.
The Springfield Police Department will be instituting a number of sweeping reforms over the next several years as a result of a consent decree between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Councilors were told by an attorney for the city that a new use of force policy is expected to be drafted for review by the DOJ next month.
