Mental health professionals – not cops – could be answering some 911 calls in Spokane soon

Mental health professionals in Spokane could soon respond to certain emergency calls without a police officer by their side.

Police and behavioral health professionals are working on the logistics of having clinicians answer emergency calls for people in crisis without the company of an armed police officer.

Spokane Police Department leaders embraced the change to give officers time to respond to other emergencies, while advocates of police reform believe it will lead to better outcomes for people in need.

“This is one of those win-win scenarios for everyone,” Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl told The Spokesman Review.

The biggest challenge the Spokane Police and Frontier Behavioral Health officers are working on is how to demarcate the difference between calls that can be handled by mental health professionals alone and those that require police assistance.

The so-called Mental Health Response Unit could probably handle a situation on its own if, for example, the person believes that eavesdropping devices are installed in their walls.

“The types of calls we are talking about are the ones on which people are currently non-violent, have no gun, and do not harm anyone or themselves. You are currently experiencing a mental health crisis, ”said Jan Tokumoto, chief operating officer of Frontier Behavioral Health, who is contributing to the effort.

Everyone involved agrees that a lot of foresight and collaboration is required before the program can start.

“It takes a lot of planning and a lot of partnership with 911 and law enforcement,” said Tokumoto. “Before we step into anything like this, we would have a discussion about what type of calls you are currently receiving that you think could be handled by a mental health response unit.”

And it’s important that Frontier Behavioral Health employees continue to have access to law enforcement support.

“There must also be a caveat that if we were wrong for any reason, this mental health department would seek help from law enforcement if necessary,” Tokumoto said.

According to Breean Beggs, president of Spokane City Council, who has long supported the concept, the city has funding for the effort thanks to the voter-approved public safety levy in 2019.

“We just need the police to say, ‘Yeah, we’re going to hire or sign them and here is the (funding request),'” Beggs said.

The city is already leveraging the help of mental health professionals through its behavioral health department, which brings officials together with trained mental health professionals to guide people into resources and away from the criminal justice system.

Tokumoto said a mental health response unit is simply an extension of that existing work.

“The co-responder teams absolutely brought us closer to how we would like to help people with mental illness in our community when they are in a particular crisis,” said Tokumoto. “I think they have been very good at diverting people from detention, from the emergency room and from inpatient psychiatric treatment because they are there when that person is in crisis and they can offer workable, tangible resources.”

The co-responder units are already relieving the officers, and Meidl is keen to test the benefits of a full psychological response. Over the course of Meidl’s law enforcement career, he said the number and volume of calls police responded to “exploded”.

“Anything we can do will reduce the pressure on the call load on law enforcement and possibly get those (responses) who are actually focused on that aspect only – mental health only – you get a better response and you win Time, ”said Meidl.

Jac Archer of the Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR) said, “Very often it is difficult to see what the police are adding to a situation other than, frankly, escalating when there is a mental crisis.”

People with mental health problems can sometimes be triggered by the mere presence of a police officer, Archer said.

In 2020, the Behavioral Health Unit responded to 434 suicide appeals, according to police.

In May alone, the unit responded to a total of 361 calls, saving patrol units an estimated 216 hours. Less than 1% of calls from the unit resulted in arrests.

Mental health department organizers can reach out to other cities for guidance.

Denver launched its Assistance Response (STAR) Support Team last June, which brings together a doctor and clinician to answer calls without the police. 748 calls were answered in the first six months of the program. Not one ended in arrest.

Spokane will likely start small, with just a few advisors. There is not yet a target date for the introduction.

Hiring probably won’t be easy as Frontier Behavioral Health, like so many organizations in the COVID-hit economy, is struggling to hire new staff. But Tokumoto promised that this wouldn’t deter the nonprofit.

“With something like this, you have to start small so you can fix the bugs and tweak them along the way until you have a solid response team,” said Tokumoto.