Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get stories like this delivered to your email inbox once a week; sign up for the free newsletter at mountainstatespotlight.org/newsletter.

By Henry Culvyhouse, Mountain State Spotlight

HUNTINGTON — After 27 years, Steve McCormick still remembers the last night he worked on an ambulance. 

It was a routine medical call, a transport to the hospital. They didn’t even run the lights and sirens. 

But when McCormick and his partner got there, it turned into a full blown emergency. The elderly patient  wasn’t breathing — they ran a tube down her throat, and McCormick pumped a bag to keep her alive. 

“I felt her last breath in my hands,” McCormick said. “I came home and I told my dad, who worked in an ambulance all his life, that I couldn’t do it anymore.” 

Today, McCormick is a captain at the Huntington Fire Department. For two decades, he’s fought fires, responded to overdoses, worked car wrecks and more. 

“I’ve seen, smelt and heard stuff I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” he said. 

All those calls take a toll. When McCormick was screened for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and showed many of the symptoms, he said it was like a kick in the gut.

PTSD among the men and women in fire, police, EMS and at 911 call centers is a nationwide issue: studies have estimated around 35% of police officers, up to 22% of firefighters and almost a quarter of 911 dispatchers suffer from PTSD. In another study, EMS personnel were found to be 10 times more likely to contemplate or attempt suicide than the average American. 

From 2018 to 2021, more police officers and firefighters died by suicide than in the line of duty. 

While there have been no numbers tabulated specific to West Virginia, state lawmakers have repeatedly said over the past couple of years that mental health among first responders needs to be a top priority — it’s one of the many issues, along with dedicated funding and pay raises, that fire and EMS have been requesting help with for years.

Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, is part of an informal working group looking at mental health in first responders. He said the issues are complex.  

“It’s like hitting a yellow jacket’s nest while you’re weed eating — you don’t know which bee to swat at first,” he said. 

 Challenges in accessing mental health care

Dr. Kari Mika-Lude, a West Virginia therapist who specializes in treating PTSD in first responders, said addressing and processing a traumatic event quickly is the key to reduce the likelihood it doesn’t become full-blown PTSD. 

“Think of it like a laundry pile,” Mika-Lude said. “You might have a laundry pile and for every new piece of clothing you put into the pile, you take a little bit  away. But if you don’t take anything from the pile, it gets bigger and bigger until one day, it feels unmanageable.” 

For McCormick, he likens it to sponge under a dripping faucet — eventually, that sponge overflows. It could be a routine lift-assist call, it could be a bit of internal department politicking, but eventually, it overflows. 

And his sponge was overflowing for a while. McCormick described sleepless nights, being in a constant state of high alert, jumpiness, quick to anger, all signs of PTSD.

“I never thought I had a problem,” he said. “When you’re living like that for so long, you just think it’s normal — but you find out, it isn’t.” 

The drive to stay strong in order to help others further complicates issues. Mika-Lude said while the public’s tendency to put first responders on a pedestal might be well-intended, it can push them to keep performing to the point of burnout. 

“Helpers are people too,” she said. “When we’re talking about this, I think that’s something the public needs to remember.” 

McCormick said turning the switch off can be tough; he’s seen guys turn their whole identity into being a first responder. 

“People see my mustache, I might just be wearing street clothes, and they know I’m a fireman,” he said. “It’s hard to make that separation, but look, I’m sitting on my back deck smoking a cigar and drinking a beer, just like anyone else that gets off of work.” 

Suffering alone can cause unhealthy coping techniques, like compulsive gambling, excessive drinking and infidelity, according to Vanessa Stapleton, president of Armor Up WV, an organization that raises PTSD awareness and puts first responders in touch with resources for treatment. 

But she said there are few places in the state for first responders to seek help.

The state already lacks mental health providers — one estimate at a conference last year for EMS and mental health providers said there’s one mental health provider for every 500 people in the state. 

Finding therapists who specialize in first responders is even tougher. And in-patient care — after a suicide attempt or when getting clean from drugs and alcohol — presents its own sets of issues. 

Stapleton said getting inpatient treatment out of state is better for first responders because they’re not in rehab with people they may have arrested or may have saved from an overdose. But the Public Employee Insurance Agency has to preauthorize an out-of-state admission — sometimes taking up to two weeks to give the green light. 

Healing through meditation and trauma therapy

For the past four years, Huntington-area first responders have had another option: Compass, a program established specifically to deal with trauma among the group. 

Located on the top floor of the Huntington Police Department, the office doesn’t have the typical beige walls and harsh fluorescent lights common in most government buildings. Instead, the tones are soft. The lighting is largely natural. There’s no hustle and bustle of keyboards tapping away or a scanner blaring out a call. 

It’s quiet.

Manning the fort on a recent weekday are the tag-team duo of Amy Jefferson, a social worker, and Amy Hanshaw, a personal trainer. With roughly 79% of the city’s police and fire ranks at least popping into Compass — it might be for a coffee, it might be a high intensity training workout — the Amys said the key to the program’s success lies in how it started. 

At first, they didn’t have this office, so the two had to take the program on the road, hanging out at city fire stations and in police cruisers. Over time, they got to know the firefighters and the officers. 

Putting mental health and wellness in the training program for each department also helped. About a quarter of the department’s ranks are made up of firefighters who underwent this training. 

McCormick, who uses the services for meditation and some specialized PTSD therapy, said if this program had started earlier, it could’ve saved even more lives and careers. 

“We’ve had a suicide and we’ve a few quit because of mental health issues,” he said. “I think if this was around, that wouldn’t have happened.” 

State lawmakers work to improve first responder mental health

But outside of Huntington and Cabell County, the support for PTSD among first responders is much more limited. 

Over the past few years, lawmakers have taken some steps toward trying to address the growing crisis. In 2021, they passed a bill to carve out an exception in workers’ compensation law to allow first responders to file claims for PTSD. By and large, worker’s comp claims do not include mental illness caused by the mental stress of the job. But the law included a huge loophole: employers can elect to skip the coverage. 

“This bill was a good old-fashioned compromise — if you’re hungry, it’s better to have half a loaf of bread than to say you don’t want any at all unless it’s a whole loaf of bread,” said former Cabell County delegate Chad Lovejoy, who said giving employers the choice was the only way to get the bill across the finish line. 

Earlier this year, lawmakers set aside more money for EMS systems around the state, which included a provision to implement “critical response teams” to debrief EMS personnel after a traumatic event. Office of Emergency Medical Services Director Jody Ratliff told lawmakers at least one team was in place and more would come. He also said he’s been working with 988, the suicide hotline, to have call takers ride along with first responders so they better help them when they call. 

Statler said he visited the Compass Program and was impressed. During the September Interim session, he recommended his fellow lawmakers do the same. 

“The day I spent my time there, the two directors there answered all my questions and I saw several people come in and out to use that facility,” he said. “It is something.”

McCormick says the program is starting to move the needle at the firehouse, if only just by encouraging conversation. He says he now hears chats over dinners at the station about how guys are doing, checking in with one another. 

“People didn’t talk about this shit 10 years ago,” he said. 

While McCormick is a self-admitted “old hippy at heart” who has been quicker to embrace practices like meditation than others in his department, even he had a tough time accepting help. 

When he screened positive for PTSD, he asked his wife, a licensed therapist, what she thought. 

“It would be foolish to think someone in your job wouldn’t have symptoms of PTSD,” he recalled her saying.  

Even then, McCormick said he had a tough time accepting he had PTSD. It took a nudge from a buddy in the fire service to go see a therapist about it. 

“If he hadn’t vouched for the therapist I’m seeing, I’ll be honest, I don’t think I would’ve gone,” he said. “The things we see, the things we remember, the smelling, the hearing, none of that is going away. But maybe we can get some tools to process it better.”  

If you are facing a mental health crisis, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is open 24/7, at 988. 

Reach reporter Henry Culvyhouse at henry@mountainstatespotlight.org

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A married Pennsylvania State Police trooper is facing false imprisonment charges after he allegedly violently detained his ex-girlfriend and committed her to a mental health treatment program under bogus claims.

Ronald Davis, 37, was arrested Thursday on accusations he abused his authority to carry out the twisted takedown that left his former girlfriend improperly stuck in a medical facility for multiple days, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office said.

Davis reportedly told her: “I know you’re not crazy, I’ll paint you as crazy” leading up to the forced medical treatment, the victim claimed, according to court documents released by the district attorney’s office.

His quest to have his ex committed began on Aug. 21 when he sought help from fellow troopers because he said the victim — identified by the district attorney as M.F. — had mental health problems, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

On advice from state police, Davis, then off-duty at the time, contacted county officials with his police email account and identified himself as a trooper, to successfully obtain an order after he submitted purported texts from her where she threatened suicide, according to the court docs.

The encounter happened on Aug. 21, authorities said. @francischardo8865

Once he got the order approved, the trooper went after the woman, who he had dated for about four months, before uniformed troopers reached her, authorities alleged.

“I’ll take care of it myself,” he allegedly said.

Davis and a civilian companion found the victim in a picnic area at a state forest where he picked her up and carried her to his car before the two struggled on the ground, the affidavit states.

Davis is seen sitting on top of his ex-beau as she claimed he tackled her to the ground, according to the footage captured by the man with Davis and released by the DA’s office. She also said she didn’t need help, but wanted to get away from the cop.

“You’re insane,” she said. “You’re absolutely insane … and then you paint me to look insane.”

As she made a move to get free, Davis manhandled her and kept her on the ground in a “wrestling-style hold,” the footage shows, according to authorities. She said more than once “I can’t breathe” as he was on top of her.

The victim did not know why she was being restrained, prosecutors said. @francischardo8865

When the two got up, Davis restrained her as she said repeatedly how she didn’t do anything wrong, according to the sickening footage.

“Why are you treating me like a criminal?” she said before uniformed officers arrived and took her to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill.

M.F. appeared to “genuinely lack understanding on why she is being restrained,” the affidavit states.

She suffered injuries to her forehead, torso, back, buttocks, forearms, knee and lower body, according to the document.

The sickening footage was taken by someone Davis knew. @francischardo8865

The ex-girlfriend was involuntarily committed for five days and did not display any suicidal thoughts during that time, according to medical personnel.

She was released on Aug. 26 and was subsequently interviewed by police.

Once cops saw an exchange of messages between the pair, they didn’t think there was cause to force her into treatment, police said.

Her purported “suicidal” messages that Davis used against her appeared to be hypothetical in nature and part of a larger argument over their deteriorating relationship, authorities said.

“While Trooper Davis provided text messages from [the victim] … and purported them to be suicidal, he failed to provide the full context of those messages,” the affidavit alleged. “In fact, the text messages were the culmination of a larger, domestic dispute between he and the victim. Taken in context, the texts revealed her frustration with Trooper Davis and his controlling behavior … not a true desire to harm herself.”

Davis, who prosecutors said is married with a family, is facing charges of felony strangulation, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and official oppression.

He was remanded without bail following an arraignment Thursday, the DA’s office said. 

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Content warning: this story contains graphic details of self harm. If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

Former Miami-Dade Police director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez was outspoken about the need for police to have mental health support, joining a movement that has taken hold in just the last decade.

“Our officers face the worst of humanity on a daily basis, and when they return home, it can be hard for them to leave their experience in the car,” he wrote in an April MDPD newsletter, encouraging people to take advantage of the department’s counseling services.Then, on a Sunday night in July, Ramirez shot himself in the head on the side of the highway and survived after two surgeries.

The incident was regarded as a suicide attempt by first responders. According to the officer who first provided aid, Ramirez said he didn’t mean to do it as he stumbled off the highway shoulder with severe injuries. But in the months since, neither Freddy Ramirez nor his wife Jody Ramirez have called it anything else.

His position leading the largest police force in the Southeast has been filled in the interim by former deputy director Stephanie Daniels. On Wednesday, Ramirez announced he is giving up his candidacy for Miami-Dade’s first elected sheriff in decades, though he was considered a front-runner when he entered the race in May.

Ramirez is the only one who knows what was going through his head when he pulled the trigger, and mental health experts warn against seeking the answers as to why someone would try to take their own life.

But the incident brings up the stickiness of the mental health stigma within law enforcement. Job problems, marital strife and access to a firearm are all risk factors that were present on the evening of Ramirez’s attempt. But the suicide intervention programs that could have helped him in a vulnerable time were dependent on his willingness to admit he was in a crisis. According to experts, that is something officers still struggle to do.

Instead, it was his wife who intercepted at the last minute, likely saving his life. She declined to comment on this story and instead continues to focus on Freddy’s recovery. For many suicide attempt survivors, that recovery can lead to a long, fulfilling and healthy life.

Miami police director Freddy Ramirez’s fraught night in Tampa

Public records obtained by USA TODAY and statements by law enforcement, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and the Ramirezes string together events of the evening prior that involved a public marital dispute, a surprising encounter with Tampa police, and remorse that pushed Ramirez to offer his resignation.

On the evening of Sunday, July 23,witnesses said Freddy Ramirez and Jody Ramirez were arguing on the street outside the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street, where they were attending the Florida Sheriff’s Association summer conference.

“Thirty years married, I know what buttons to push, he knows what buttons to push,” Jody would later tell the police, without disclosing what the argument was about.

Unidentified witnesses told hotel security they had seen a couple arguing at the hotel and the man put a gun to his head saying he intended to “end it here.” When the Tampa police arrived, they couldn’t locate the original witnesses, but hotel security officers had followed the couple to the 12th floor and provided police with a key.

By about 7 p.m., 11 officers had gathered near the elevator on the 12th floor. A team of them marched down the hall behind a ballistic shield to the Ramirezes’ room before loudly knocking and asking them to come out. Jody opened the door and was immediately escorted around the corner to the elevator. Freddy, after several demands from police to put his hands above his head, was handcuffed.

The Ramirezes told police they were arguing outside. Freddy denied ever taking his gun out while at the hotel, while Jody first said she couldn’t remember if he took his gun out. Eventually, she told the police no, he did not take his gun out.

Body camera footage shows Ramirez pleading with officers. “I’m the director of the police department, you don’t do this to me man,” he says. “I didn’t do anything! You know if you write a report, you guys are gonna blow my (expletive) up.”He collects himself, looking directly in the body camera several times, and politely complies with the officers for the remainder of the encounter.

Freddy denied having any suicidal thoughts, as the video shows him saying, “Not at all, I’m good.” Jody denied feeling unsafe. Police deemed that he did not meet Florida’s Baker Act criteria, which would have provided him with emergency services and temporary detention for up to 72 hours for a mental health examination.

The Ramirezes would later call this episode shocking, stating that being put in handcuffs is a “profoundly disturbing event for any who experiences it,” in a joint statement issued via a family lawyer. “It was especially so for such a distinguished leader of law-enforcement, with an unblemished record of more than 28 years of exemplary service in protecting the public.”

Kicked out of their hotel, the Ramirezes started the four-hour drive back to Miami. Shortly after getting on the road, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Ramirez called Mayor Levine Cava. Without explaining, he said he had made “mistakes” and would offer his resignation, according to Cava.

Less than an hour later, at 9:23 p.m., Jody called emergency services from the side of I-75 approximately 15 miles south of Tampa. They hadn’t made it out of Hillsborough County. Through screams, she told first responders that her husband had shot himself in the head. Between panicked cries, she said Freddy was walking away from the car towards traffic. Eventually, he made it to the grass by the side of the road. Freddy can be heard in the background of the 911 call saying, “I can’t breathe.”

According to their statement, they were still “bewildered and distraught” from the incident in Tampa on the drive home. But Jody grabbed his arm in time to stop the shot from being fatal.

Suicide prevention programs won’t work until mental health stigma ends

Police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty.

The Miami-Dade Police Department runs a suicide intervention initiative out of its Psychological Services Bureau, which also offers counseling with an emphasis in confidentiality.

The initiative includes an annual training program and a 24/7 wellness check system specifically designed for officers who have been arrested or relieved from duty. John Violanti, a research professor and police stress expert at the University at Buffalo, said that job loss or job problems are one of the most prevalent factors in officers who die by suicide.

“From the inception of its suicide prevention program, the (PSB) has conceptualized suicide as a problem-solving behavior,” states a program description by MDPD. “Specifically, within law enforcement, this problem-solving behavior is most often of rapid onset aimed at the preservation of a threatened self-image. A police officer rapidly cycles from embarrassment to humiliation and suicide is seen as a means to avoid the loss of identity as a police officer.”

Officers or former officers who receive a wellness check have a suicide assessment done, and if not presently at risk, friends and family are notified to provide extra support.

The Tampa Police Department has started a peer support team, according to Lieutenant Lisa Parashis who oversees TPD’s officer wellness initiatives. The team is meant to be a confidential source for officers to talk through what they are experiencing. They also proactively reach out to people who were injured, put on administrative leave or involved in a shooting.

Even with these programs that take into account the suicide risk factors that disproportionately affect police officers, Parashis said that fighting the stigma of mental health among officers is an uphill battle.

“Peer support is very important and it’s going to take some time for people to really gain the trust and the willingness to participate,” Parashis said. “We try to look out for each other. We check in …. you know, ‘hey, how you doing?’ But the standard answer most officers give is: ‘I’m fine, I’m okay.’ So we’re trying to break that stigma.”

Finally, the Florida Baker Act applies to anyone in the state, in or out of law enforcement, who might be a threat to themselves or others. For an officer to detain someone under the Baker Act, they must have evidence.

Freddy and Jody insisted that neither of them was in danger, and police reports from the night say that he did not meet the criteria.

Their instinct to stay tight-lipped comes as no surprise to Kim Colewell, who lost her husband to suicide three months after he retired from a long career in law enforcement. Now, she runs Pause First, an organization that provides mindfulness training to officers.

“Police officers know how to (bs) people,” she said. “And so they know what to say if they get called in and someone’s asking them questions, they know what they need to say so that there won’t be any red flags.”

She said for her husband, that drive to mask emotional struggles stemmed from a fear of being reprimanded, put on leave, or having his gun and badge taken away.

As firearms are the most common method in fatal suicides, taking them away if someone is struggling may seem like an obvious solution. But Violanti says that it can have the opposite effect with police.

“If you take the firearm and badge because the officer is found to be suicidal, you’ve taken away the symbolic factor of his job,” Violanti said. “That only work makes things worse. That only exacerbates the crisis. … So the solution is difficult.”

Breaking the stigma has come a long way, but education will help it further

A psychologist who works with police, David Englert said that crises can erupt rather quickly. In Ramirez’s case, Jody told a first responder, he pulled over suddenly and shot himself before she knew it.

Advocates say that greater awareness of the stressors of the job, how they can impact all aspects of an officer’s well-being and the available resources are keys for breaking down that stigma.

Many experts commented that breaking down the stigma and the resources available for officers have come a long way in the past decade. Organizations that aim to provide those resources started within the last decade, and those who work in the space say it has spread to wider acceptance within the last five years.

Englert said he has even seen some “ahead-of-the-curve” departments requiring yearly wellness check-ups. Violanti pointed toward police departments in California that have holistic wellness programs similar to the TPD’s, which covers mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and financial wellness.

Shawn Thomas runs 1st Conferences and partners with 1st H.E.L.P to raise awareness around officer wellness around the country.

“When I started doing the conference in 2016, there weren’t a ton of resources, but there’s a lot more resources now,” she said, noting that her organization has put on 41 conferences since then. “The more people that are talking about it, the better (for) breaking the stigma.”

Officers who are struggling can find the resources compiled by Thomas and 1st H.E.L.P. on this website.

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Judy Deacon didn’t shut herself away after her son, Jesse, was shot and killed by New South Wales police two months ago.

Instead, the 79-year-old harnessed her anger. She started lobbying politicians, health professionals and the force itself.

Police officers should not be involved in most mental health call-outs, Deacon told anyone who would listen. And if they were, they needed to be better trained.

Deacon thinks police officers shouldn’t carry guns but understands they likely will. In that case, she says, weapons should only go to members after they’ve been in the force for “a number of years” and have a proven track record.

“I don’t think the reality that he [Jesse] is dead will sink in for me until I see things changed,” Deacon told Guardian Australia this week after the fourth fatal interaction between NSW police and a vulnerable person in as many months.

Jesse Deacon had recently been allocated a home in Glebe’s Franklyn Street public housing estate.

When Deacon heard last week that a woman had died in Newcastle after being Tasered and shot with bean bag rounds, her first thought was: “This is endless.” She decided it was time to share Jesse’s story.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with people because it’s not my fight, it is everyone’s fight, and everyone has to work together so this doesn’t happen again.”

‘He was struggling, but on the way up’

In July, Jesse Deacon, 42, was shot dead by police in his Glebe home on the Franklyn Street public housing estate.

In the hours before his death, Jesse had gone to his neighbour’s house to ask for a cigarette. They saw his arm was dripping with blood and called triple zero to report that Jesse was self-harming, his mother says.

When police arrived, they entered the home and found Jesse holding a knife. One officer tried to use a Taser but it failed, so another officer fired his gun.

Deacon says Jesse was shy and expressed himself through music. He struggled with his mental health for most of his life. In high school, he was diagnosed with affective psychosis, which leads to hallucinations and delusions.

“We made sure he had every support available to him,” his mother says.

“He appeared normal – but he was struggling with a lot of demons. When you’ve been mentally ill for decades it takes a while to climb out.”

Jesse drifted from living in rental accommodation, boarding houses and sometimes with family. Often, he self-medicated with drugs and was in and out of hospitals. Recently, he was in hospital on remand after he hit someone while experiencing a psychotic episode, Deacon says.

But he had been given a home at Franklyn Street after almost six years on the public housing waiting list and was discharged from hospital on the proviso he took anti-psychotic medication fortnightly.

“He seemed like he was on the way up,” Judy says. He was visited twice a week by support staff funded via the NDIS. “He’d stopped taking methadone, he’d cut his hair, he was smartening up.”

When she got a phone call telling her to attend a police station, Deacon thought she would be told Jesse had been hospitalised again.

“On my way, his father rang me crying, and I knew straight away he was dead,” she says. “But it never entered my head it was a police matter.”

‘Police training can escalate a situation’

The chief executive of mental health advocacy organisation Being, Priscilla Brice, says when police attend mental health call-outs they assess and deal with any risks before calling in a mental health clinician. That isn’t the right approach, she argues.

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“It blows my mind they aren’t part of the initial response,” Brice says, adding specialists should be on the scene from the start.

The NSW police acting commissioner, David Hudson, agrees to a certain extent. On Tuesday, he revealed bean bag rounds fired at Krista Kach during the siege in Newcastle last week penetrated her chest and hit her heart, killing the 47-year-old.

During the same press conference, he said NSW police were deployed to 64,000 mental health incidents last year and “to be perfectly honest many of those incidents we probably should not have been deployed to”.

Jesse Deacon as a child.

“Showing up in uniform, showing up with police training, can escalate a situation rather than deescalate it, and we would suggest that perhaps [mental health] clinicians are better placed to resolve some of these incidents.”

A NSW parliamentary inquiry is examining how and if police should respond to mental health emergencies.

The Greens MP Amanda Cohn, who is chairing the inquiry, has said NSW would not need to reinvent the wheel to come up with alternatives, pointing to the ACT model whereby a paramedic, mental health clinician and police officer respond together in an unmarked vehicle.

NSW has trialled a Pacer program. The Police Ambulance and Clinical Early Response pilot stationed 36 mental health clinicians in 10 police area commands and districts with the aim of ensuring police powers were used only when necessary in responding to mental health crises.

According to Greens MP Sue Higginson, Kach’s daughter believed if she had been able to talk to her mother without the “heavily weaponised riot squad”, she likely could have de-escalated the situation.

Kach’s family said in a statement on Monday: “We told the police in no uncertain terms that she was not well that day and she needed medical help.”

They say NSW police assured them before the shooting incident that they would look after their mother and that she would be cared for by “qualified medical professionals”.

A report released in May by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission found almost half the people involved in NSW police operations that resulted in death or serious injury were experiencing a mental health crisis. Among the report’s seven recommendations was an urgent call for better mental health training for officers.

On Monday, NSW police announced it was accepting that recommendation and would update its mental health training program.

Deacon says Kach’s death “is a tragedy for the victim and their family”.

“But [the police] are also not doing their own people a favour by not giving them the necessary support to handle these situations.”

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Ames Police officers are not ashamed to talk about their struggles with mental health. And they say you shouldn’t be ashamed either.

Several officers appear on camera in a promotional video for the Sept. 25 Story County Mental Health Expo to talk about their mental health diagnoses.

Ames Police Commander Jason Tuttle is among the personnel featured. As an early responder to the June 2, 2022, shooting at Ames’ Cornerstone Church, which left three people dead, Tuttle experienced physical and mental symptoms in the wake of the tragedy.

With his wife’s and fellow officers’ support, he sought professional help, which has made a difference.

“I’ve been in therapy for the last year,” Tuttle said in the video. “I feel much healthier, both physically and emotionally today.”

He shared his story so others wouldn’t feel alone in their struggles.

“It’s okay to not be okay,” he said.

More: Cornerstone Church first responder receives city’s highest honor with Award of Valor

Story County Mental Health Expo is free

The Story County Mental Health expo is entering its eighth year, which has grown annually. About 400 people attended in 2022, said Ames Police Department mental health advocate Julie Saxton.

“It’s free. It’s always free — admission, parking, food, everything,” she said. “We’ll have more than 35 vendors and keynote speaker Kai Roberts.”

The event runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25 in the Great Room at the Iowa State Memorial Union.

Kai Roberts

Kai Roberts will perform “Mental Health Through Music” at 7 p.m. The Pennsylvania-based mental health advocate uses hip-hop to share how he has dealt with anxiety and panic attacks.

“We always have such amazing keynote speakers from different backgrounds, with different experience,” Saxton said. “I think Kai will really relate with college students, but also with all ages. I think we can all relate to having anxiety.”

Youth suicide numbers are ‘astronomical’

The annual Mental Health Expo is held in conjunction with suicide awareness month.

The number of people in mental health crises is overwhelming, Saxton said. Last year, she received 2,800 mental health calls for service and responded to 2,500.

“Twenty percent of those calls were people who were actively suicidal,” she said.

At least one person in her daily call log is suicidal, and it’s often more than one.

“The number of youth that have died by suicide in Story County is astronomical,” Saxton said. “And the numbers are higher than even reported, because sometimes the family members don’t want to admit that’s what it was.”

More: Iowa’s gender-affirming care ban is chasing transgender kids out of state for medical care

Saxton’s figures don’t include calls to Iowa State police, medical providers or social service organizations.

“There are many more people struggling that we don’t know about,” Saxton said. “Every therapist is full, the waiting lists are longer, especially if you’re a new patient.

“We’re also lacking medication providers, like psychiatrists — that’s countywide, statewide and nationwide.”

People on Medicaid take even longer to get treatment because “a lot of agencies and clinicians just don’t want to have to deal with it,” she said.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s no different than being treated for a broken bone, going into the emergency room and being treated immediately,” Saxton said. “But it’s not at all the same for people who are struggling with mental health.”

Social media contributes to mental health issues

A combination of factors have contributed to the rise in mental illness, Saxton said.

The coronavirus pandemic forced many people to isolate, specifically having an effect on youth development.

“Our students don’t have coping skills and they are not resilient,” she said.

Social media can also play a role, which often is the root of anxiety and depression, Saxton said.

“We collectively are saying it’s okay to have a culture of hate. What I mean by that is: every community has a social media page, like Ames People,” Saxton said. “And if you are even looking at it, you are contributing to that.”

Although citizens have a right to free speech, she said, there are consequences. One of the consequences is a decline in mental health.

“It’s a cesspool of hate, misinformation, made up information, and that’s allowed,” Saxton said. “It’s a place for adults that are creating hate and anger, which we know as providers contributes to the decline of mental health.”

She said social media allows people to say whatever they want with no consequences, hiding behind their computer screens.

“My question to the community is, ‘Why is that okay?’” Saxton said.

The theme for the 2023 Story County Mental Health Expo is “Escape for overcoming anxiety and intrusive thoughts.”

A suicide prevention training is offered at 5:30 p.m. prior to next Monday’s expo. The hour-long class will give residents the skills to identify suicidal behavior and crisis.

As the Ames Police asks in their Mental Health Expo promo, “What’s preventing you from reaching out?”

If you or a loved one are having thoughts of suicide, call 988 or reach the 24-hour crisis line at 855-581-8111.

Ronna Faaborg is a reporter for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Hip-hop artist is keynote for Story County Mental Health Expo

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DENVER — As budget season kicks into high gear at Denver City Hall, the mayor and council members will try to figure out how much to spend to keep Denver safe. They’ll also consider how much to invest in traditional public safety programs, mental health services and jail alternatives.

Mayor Mike Johnston laid out his vision last week, as part of his $1.7 billion proposed budget. It’s the first budgetproposed by a new mayor in 12 years.

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It comes at a time when residents throughout the city are worried about violence, which was consistently listed as a top concern among voters during the mayoral election earlier this year.

“[Last year] represented a historic high in crime across the city. It’s some of the highest rates of crime we’ve seen in almost 20 years, both from violent crime, from property crimes, from homicide. And we plan to turn that around,” Johnston said.

According to a city auditor’s report, Denver was 100 officers short of its authorized strength in 2022. The report said continuous understaffing puts a strain on officers and makes it difficult for them to promptly respond to 911 calls, as well as non-emergency calls.

“We know this has been a major crisis. We don’t have enough officers to do their work and respond to the calls that residents have,” said Johnston.

The mayor wants to spend $8.2 million to add 167 new police recruits, which he said will put the Denver Police Department on the path to meet its full authorized strength.

“That is also the largest number of new officers we brought on in nearly 20 years in the city, which we think will both help make sure we have the resources we need and help make sure we’re deploying officers to the places where they can be their highest and best use,” said Johnston.

Denver Auditor’s Office

Denver auditor’s report shows the Denver Police Department’s turnover rate fell slightly in 2022 but increased substantially since 2020. The workforce capacity has also been on the decline.

But not everyone thinks more officers is the answer.

“We’ve learned in the past that we keep increasing the staffing of our police department, but it’s not showing up in a reduction of crime,” said Denver City Councilman Paul Kashmann.

Kashmann told Denver7 he’s more interested in looking at what the mayor’s budget will do to address the root causes of crime.

“I’ve spoken with the district attorney, the city attorney, our previous police chief, the chief judge. Everybody will tell you that we can’t arrest our way out of crime,” said Kashmann. “I firmly believe that we’ve got to stop the pipeline of people we keep generating, that have no other way to get there or feel they have no other way to get their needs met than by turning to crime.”

He’s pleased to see Johnston wants to spend about $15 million to expand programs that provide help to people suffering from a mental health crisis, limit their interactions with police and provide them with alternatives to jail.

One of those programs is the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, which sends mental health professionals and paramedics to non-violent calls instead of police. STAR has responded to more than 10,000 calls since it began in 2020.

“It’s taking a lot of weight off our traditional police officers and putting that on the shoulders of people more appropriately trained to deal with mental health issues,” said Kashmann.

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Johnston wants to expand STAR by adding more staff and vans.

In addition, the mayor’s proposed budget would include $1.8 million to pay for a second Wellness Winnie, a mobile unit that provides mental health services to people in need across Denver.

Johnston also wants to spend about $7 million on treatment alternatives. This includes $3 million to add 90 beds to community corrections facilities and $4.2 million to help create a Behavioral Health Solutions Center to help people experiencing behavioral health issues.

Council members will get a more in-depth look at the mayor’s public safety budget on Thursday when representatives from the police department, sheriff’s office, department of safety, and fire departments will present their budget proposals.

Denver mayor’s budget calls for more police, expanded mental health services

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League City’s newest chief of police is Cliff Woitena after he was sworn into office last week, and under his guidance, the police department is making plans for kickstarting a mental health unit to address an uptick in mental health calls.

“By the end of 2022, we realized that our officers were committing someone to a mental health facility almost every day,” Woitena said. “In many cases, we found that we had repeat mental health consumers.”

The police department received 159 mental health calls in 2022, and that increase motivated the department to get serious about its plan for responding to mental crisis calls, despite talks being up in the air for years.

Early discussions of a mental health unit were based on anecdotal evidence, Woitena said.

“The agency decided to develop a mechanism to better track our mental health-related calls,” he said. “Our goal was to capture as much empirical data as possible to assist in the development of a realistic approach to this issue.”

Armed with data on increased mental health calls, the department decided to explore the development of a proactive mental health team, he said.

The goal is to build a unit that would have primary responding officers to assist citizens in mental crises, Woitena said. Those officers will receive more advanced mental health training, dress in non-traditional uniforms, and operate out of unmarked police cars.

“Our hope is to humanize our response to these types of calls and remove some of the anxiety that can be associated with a more traditional police response,” he said. “We are also exploring the possibilities of a multi-disciplinary response that would couple our police officers with a medical professional and mental health counselor. This approach would provide an array of services and resolution strategies at each and every call.”

And while an uptick in mental health-related calls is not uncommon, some police departments around Texas have struggled to keep up, burdened by limited resources. Last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to invest $25 billion in mental health care spending in response to the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead.

In Houston, calls to the police department’s Crisis Intervention Team are going up every year, according to a 2020 annual report. The division received 45,855 calls in 2020, which was around 5,000 more than the prior year.

Counselors on Houston’s crisis call diversion team also connect callers with additional resources after attempts to de-escalate a situation, Wayne Young, Harris Center CEO told Houston Public Media last year.

The League City Police Department applied for $218,000 of funding for the unit in April, through Community Oriented Police Services.

“These funds were requested to assist with the purchase of our initial vehicles, computers, uniforms and training for our officers. We also intend to seek state-level funding once some of those opportunities present themselves.”

And since funding is not guaranteed, the police department has increased its mental health training throughout its patrol division. The police department currently has approximately 20 certified mental health officers in the agency.

“We aspire to train all of our uniformed personnel to become certified mental health officers to increase our abilities to better handle these types of calls,” Woitena said.

The League City council unanimously approved appointing Woitena as chief on Sept. 12. He recently served the department as Assistant Chief of Police and Interim Chief after the retirement of former Police Chief Gary Ratliff in June.

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Christian Glass was a geology geek, a painter and a young man beset by a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help getting his car unstuck in a Colorado mountain town last year.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived, he refused to get out of the car after saying that supernatural beings were after him, body camera video shows. The officers shouted, threatened and coaxed. Glass made heart shapes with his hands and prayed: “Dear Lord, please, don’t let them break the window.”

They did, and the 22-year-old grabbed a small knife. Then he was hit with bean bag rounds, stun gun charges and, ultimately, bullets that killed him and led to a murder charge against one deputy and a criminally negligent homicide charge against another.

As part of a $19 million settlement this spring with Glass’ parents, Colorado’s Clear Creek County this month joined a growing roster of U.S. communities that respond to nonviolent mental health crises with clinicians and EMTs or paramedics, instead of police.

FILE – Simon Glass, left, and his wife, Sally, embrace as they talk during a news interview in the offices of the couple’s lawyers in Denver, May 23, 2023.

The initiatives have spread rapidly in recent years, particularly among the nation’s biggest cities.

Data gathered by The Associated Press show at least 14 of the 20 most populous U.S. cities are hosting or starting such programs, sometimes called civilian, alternative or non-police response teams. They span from New York and Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio, and Houston, and boast annual budgets that together topped $123 million as of June, AP found. Funding sources vary.

“If someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, law enforcement is not what they need,” said Tamara Lynn of the National De-Escalation Training Center, a private group that trains police to handle such situations.

There’s no aggregate, comprehensive data yet on the programs’ effects. Their scope varies considerably. So does their public reception.

In Denver, just an hour’s drive from where Glass was killed, a program called STAR answered 5,700 calls last year and is often cited as a national model. Its funding has totaled $7 million since 2021.

In New York, a more than $40 million-a-year program dubbed B-HEARD answered about 3,500 calls last year, and mental health advocates criticize it as anemic.

Representatives from some other cities were frank about challenges — staffing shortages, acclimating 911 dispatchers to sending out unarmed civilians, and more — at a conference in Washington, D.C., this spring.

Still, officials in places including New York see no-police teams as an important shift in how they address people in crisis.

“We really think that every single B-HEARD response is just a better way that we, the city, are providing care to people,” said Laquisha Grant of the New York Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health.

Federal data is incomplete, but various studies and statistics show that mentally ill people make up a substantial proportion of those killed by police. Often, the dead are people of color, though Glass was not.

Calls for change

The alternative approach dates back decades but gained new impetus from calls for wide-ranging police reform after the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. There also were specific pleas for better responses to psychiatric crisis after such tragedies as the death of Daniel Prude that year in Rochester, New York. Prude was just out of a psychiatric hospital and running naked through snowy streets when he was suffocated by police who had been called to help him. He was Black, as was Floyd.

FILE – Activists participate in a rally to call for peer-led, non-police response to mental health crisis calls, in New York, Sept. 29, 2022.

Reports of mental distress made up about 1% of police calls in a 2022 study involving nine police agencies; there’s no nationwide statistic. A long-established civilian response program in Eugene, Oregon, says it diverts 3% to 8% of calls from police. The Vera Institute of Justice, a police reform advocacy group, suggests alternative teams could handle 19% if homelessness, intoxication and some other troubles were included.

In Denver, STAR teams arrive in vans stuffed with everything from medical gear to blankets to Cheez-Its. In one recent instance, they spent three hours — more time than police could likely have spent — with a Denver newcomer who was living on the streets. The team helped him get a Colorado ID voucher, groceries, and medications and took him to a shelter.

“It’s really about meeting the needs of the community and making sure we are sending the right experts, so we can actually solve the problem,” says Carleigh Sailon, a former STAR manager who now works elsewhere.

STAR responded to 44% of calls deemed eligible last year, said Evan Thompkins, a STAR program specialist.

A Stanford University study found that petty crime reports fell by a third and violent crime stayed steady in areas that STAR served in its earliest phase. Throughout the program’s three years, police have never been called for backup due to safety concerns but have helped direct traffic, Thompkins said.

Identifying callers’ needs

Some observers wonder if safety worries will grow as non-police programs do. While there’s an appeal to the idea of pulling cops out of psychiatric crisis calls, “the challenge is identifying those calls,” said Stephen Eide, a senior fellow specializing in mental health issues at the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank.

In New York, dispatchers must gauge the potentially life-or-death risk of “imminent harm” while deciphering sometimes frantic 911 calls that often come from bystanders or relatives, not the person in crisis.

Officials say B-HEARD answered 53% of eligible calls in the last six months of 2022, the most recent data available. But that was 16% of all mental health crisis calls within the program’s limited territory.

Combined, staffers citywide answered about 2% of the 171,000 such calls throughout last year.

“Very unimpressive,” says Ruth Lowenkron, an attorney involved in a federal lawsuit that seeks changes in B-HEARD.

Grant says the city is exploring whether more calls could qualify. Meanwhile, officials note that B-HEARD’s social workers and EMTs resolve about half of calls by talking to people or taking them to social service or community health centers, rather than the hospitals where armed officers have traditionally brought people in crisis. Plans call for extending B-HEARD citywide.

Grant credits the program with “providing people with more options and letting people know that they can stay safely in their homes, in their communities, with the connection to the right resources.”

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British Columbia’s police watchdog has found no wrongdoing and will not recommend charges in the shooting death of Dani Cooper last November, a decision that has left the 27-year-old’s family, friends and community again calling for changes to how police respond to people in mental health crises.

Cooper died Nov. 12 after being shot twice by a North Vancouver RCMP officer, according to a report by the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), made public on Thursday.

A poet, writer and activist, Cooper was non-binary and used they/them pronouns. They were also known as Dee Cee and Maiken before they died.

The IIO’s investigation found the unnamed RCMP officer who shot Cooper twice acted lawfully and justifiably given that Cooper was advancing towards him with a knife, director Ronald MacDonald concluded.

The IIO investigates all police incidents in B.C. that result in death or serious injury, and can recommend charges to the B.C. Prosecution Service if they find police acted unlawfully.

Cooper was wielding a knife, witnesses say

The report provides the first detailed timeline of the night Cooper died since the IIO began its investigation in November.

Cooper’s mother called 911 to the co-op they shared shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, reporting that Cooper had tried to attack her with a knife, according to the report. 

She also told the dispatcher that Cooper was experiencing psychosis and had substance use issues. Cooper’s family previously told CBC News that Cooper has schizoaffective disorder, which made them unsure of what was real, leaving them feeling scared and threatened. They had struggled to find adequate support to manage the condition and sometimes self-medicated with opioids.

While Cooper’s mother was able to wrestle the knife away, Cooper took a second four-inch knife from the kitchen while their mother went to a neighbouring unit to call 911.

Witnesses say Cooper entered and tried to enter multiple neighbours’ units holding the knife, at one time stating they were looking for their mother. 

Two neighbours also called 911, reporting Cooper was trying to stab people in the complex, where units share walls but are accessible from the outside.

Rather than menacing, however, witnesses described Cooper as calm and having a blank stare. They appeared “confused or scared,” like a “deer in headlights,” said one neighbour.

A Christmas ornament with a picture of Dani Cooper as a child hangs from their father’s Christmas tree on Dec. 13, 2022. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Two RCMP officers arrived just 12 minutes after Cooper’s mother first called 911. Cooper had been kicking a glazed patio door trying to enter the second unit again and appeared to have stabbed themselves with the knife several times in the abdomen, according to the report. 

Both officers ordered Cooper to drop the knife, but they did not appear to be processing or to understand the command, witnesses and officers told the IIO.

It was clear they were in a mental health crisis, MacDonald wrote in the report.

One officer tried to taser Cooper, but it did not work because Cooper was wearing a thick jacket, the IIO’s analysis concluded.

A third officer arrived and told Cooper they were police and were there to help, shortly after which a fourth and fifth officer arrived.

Officers recall Cooper did not believe them, and said “you’re going to kill me,” according to the report.

A neighbour witness still on the phone with 911 then heard police yelling loudly as police said Cooper climbed over the patio fence that had separated them from the officers and slowly “shuffled” towards them while holding the knife pointed up in the air. 

RCMP moved away from Cooper but became “trapped” by the treeline, which they could not see beyond in the dark.

One officer told the IIO she thought Cooper was going to stab one of the officers, despite them yelling for Cooper to drop the knife.

A second taser was deployed, and 10 seconds later, an officer shot Cooper twice. They had been about 2.75 to 4 metres away from the officer, the report found.

They fell to the ground and officers removed the knife from their reach as they began life-saving efforts, according to the report.

A mural featuring Dani Cooper has been created at the Wildfire Bakery in Victoria. (Submitted by Dennis Cooper)

Cooper was transported to hospital where they were pronounced dead. An autopsy determined their cause of death was the two gunshot wounds, one of which was in their chest, and that they had opioids including fentanyl and methadone in their bloodstream.

IIO director Ronald MacDonald said the investigation found RCMP officers took reasonable efforts to de-escalate the situation, protect their own safety and the safety of the public.

When tasers failed, “using lethal force was necessary to prevent the [officer[ or anyone else from being harmed,” MacDonald wrote.

The report does not say for how long the officers tried to de-escalate the situation or disarm Cooper before shooting them.

Death was preventable, says family

Thursday’s report prompted “frustration” and renewed calls for change from Cooper’s family, who say their death could have been prevented if police were better trained in de-escalation with people in mental distress. 

Cooper’s sister expressed concern that they were mischaracterized as a threat and questioned why police could not disarm Cooper, who stood at 5 feet 2 inches and weighed about 110 pounds, without shooting them.

“Dani was so little of a threat that I could have just run up to them and wrapped my arms around them,” said Cara Cooper in a statement released by non-profit Pivot Legal Society on Thursday.

“They were unwell, dazed and psychosis – and instead of help they were killed by police.”

Cooper’s family continues to advocate for improved & expanded de-escalation training – so that no family must go through what they have. We continue to demand urgent changes to policing, mental health interventions, & redirecting funds towards community-based intervention.

8/8 pic.twitter.com/FhByA2EzWG

—@pivotlegal

Pivot organizers said their death raises concerns for the role of police in responding to mental health crises.

A 2018 CBC investigation found that B.C. had the highest rate of police-involved deaths per capita in the country, and the number of police shootings rapidly increased in 2022.

On average, the IIO deals with six to seven police-involved shootings every year. But in 2022, 19 people died after police used force on them in 2022.

“Cooper’s death due to RCMP gunfire is a reminder that so-called ‘wellness checks’ can lead to escalated use of force and potential fatalities,” Pivot said in the statement.

WATCH | Father says Dani Cooper’s death was preventable: 

Dennis Cooper says police didn’t have to shoot Dani

Dennis Cooper said he doesn’t understand why police had to shoot his 27-year-old child, Dani, who they found in a state of mental distress.

In the report, MacDonald said Cooper’s small stature did not reduce the threat they posed.

“Lethal or near-lethal wounds can be caused by any able person, no matter the size, and regardless of the protective vest being worn by an officer,” he wrote.

He stressed that because of the threat witnesses say Cooper posed, the call was not a “wellness check” but a police response to calls for help for protection from a person threatening to stab others.

The Cooper family is calling for expanded de-escalation training for police, more community-based resources for people with serious mental illnesses and more funding for non-police interventions for people in mental health distress, just as Cooper did before they died.

“Dani would not have wanted these police officers punished,” said their father, Dennis Cooper, in the statement.

“They would have wanted change.”

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HAMPTON — Responding to more than two dozen suicide attempts already this year, four resulting in deaths, town Police Chief Alex Reno is hoping grant funding he has applied for will help. He believes it would allow the department to utilize its resources most effectively while dealing with the variety of societal issues officers face daily.

“We respond to calls related to mental health every day,” Reno said in a recent interview. He said Hampton police have received 25 calls about suicidal people since January, including three of the four deaths in a three-week span. In 2022, Hampton police responded to 9 suicide calls, with one death.

“That’s a significant increase,” he said.

Following the three suicides close together, Reno said, the department’s dispatch received two more calls this summer concerning individuals others feared would harm themselves. Thanks to their diligence, he said, officers were able to trace the people involved in time to save those lives.

Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno has applied for a federal grant to help in addressing the mental health crisis locally after seeing an uptick in suicide calls.

In one case, officers on patrol went looking throughout the beach district for a person reported to be in distress. When the car was spotted and pulled over, the officer involved discovered the individual was armed with a gun and a knife.

At the next incident, with scant information, the dispatcher was able to track down the specifics to find a reportedly vulnerable person. When an officer made contact, the person was found slumped over the steering wheel after swallowing potentially deadly medication. The officer and emergency responders were able to save this person, according to Reno.

Those are the most severe examples of mental health issues officers are called upon to address, Reno said. In addition, daily, people call the police for assistance when they are overwhelmed while facing loved ones or colleagues exhibiting problematic behaviors.

“People don’t know what to do with a family member experiencing a mental health crisis, so they call the police,” Reno said. “We do what we can with the limited resources we have, but it isn’t in our specific field.”

Story continues

In cases like those, Reno said, instead of being out on patrol, officers end up spending hours of their time trying to help with issues that are actually not crimes, and are outside their mission and sphere of knowledge.

“It’s not in our toolbox,” Reno said. “We can’t fix mental health issues.”

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Hampton police eyes hiring mental health liaison

The uptick in suicide calls is one of the reasons behind Reno’s application for a $200,000 federal grant, which he believes can help Hampton better address these and other issues.

Known as a COPS grant, it’s out of the U.S. Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services program. Reno learned of it when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, sent information on it to the state’s police chiefs.

Police responded to 25 calls about suicidal individuals since January, four resulting in death.

If funded, the money would be used to add three staffers to the Hampton Police Department: Two part-timers, a mental health liaison and a victim/witness advocate, plus a full-time attorney to replace the police officer who currently handles the prosecution of those arrested on non-felony charges.

“What are our goals?” Reno said. “We want to deliver the right resources to the right people.”

The part-time mental health liaison would not respond with officers, Reno said. But this trained professional would be equipped to identify mental health issues when they arise, evaluate responses and perform appropriate follow-up.

“After the call, this person would make sure we’re doing the best follow-up, and coordinate the effort,” Reno said. “Perhaps directing the case to the state’s Mental Health Court.”

Victim/witness advocates have been used for years in New Hampshire and other states by law enforcement and court systems. They ensure victims of crime are not lost in the shuffle, and witnesses to crimes feel comfortable and protected when they testify.

“The victim/witness advocate would make sure we’re responding correctly to the victims of crime,” Reno said. “That we’re following the Victims’ Bill of Rights, and that they feel heard, are kept updated and are consulted. Sometimes crime victims don’t feel comfortable speaking with a police officer, but they will speak to civilian advocates.”

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Reno says funding would help keep patrol officers on streets

Currently, one of Hampton’s police sergeants handles all the town’s non-felony prosecutions at the circuit court level at the Hampton Courthouse. Felony cases are handled by the Rockingham County Attorney at Superior Court.

Reno, a former Hampton police prosecutor, can attest it’s a full-time job that takes a police officer off the street. If approved, the grant would fund an attorney to handle Hampton PD’s prosecutions, putting an officer back on patrol, he said.

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In a time when finding and keeping full- and part-time police officers is a real challenge for all police departments, Reno said, appropriately utilizing the resources Hampton has is vital.

“I’d like to let lawyers do what lawyers do, and let police officers do what police officers are supposed to do,” Reno said. “Protect the public.”

If the grant is funded, he said, it would provide enough money to cover the costs of these three positions in a pilot program for one year and free up officers’ time to do what they’re hired to do while better dealing with the non-criminal societal situations police are called on to address.

After a year, he said, the success of the program can be weighed, and the town can decide how to proceed.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Suicides alarm chief: Hampton police seeks mental health staff funds

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