The Waco police department and The Heart of Texas Behavioral Network will now be working together to provide appropriate responses to 911 calls, in a new program called, ‘The Heart of Texas Crisis Call Diversion.’
STACEY STEGER: “I think that this has been a need in our community at large for a long time, and I think that dispatch has seen the need. A lot of times if somebody shows up and they’re wearing their badge and they come in uniform, that may be scary to somebody.”
Program director of outpatient crisis services at the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network, Stacey Steger, says the goal of the partnership is to assist the dispatch department of Waco PD by connecting individuals calling 911, who may be suffering from a mental health crisis, to a trained health care provider, rather than dispatching police officers to the scene.
STACEY STEGER: “Say there is a call that comes through and the behavioral health specialist takes the call, they’re gonna do the crisis screening and all of that. Some crises can be resolved just through talking it out, but then there are gonna be others where the person is really, really needing extra care and needs somebody in person. In those cases, the call taker can say, ‘hey, can you go out on this call?’ And then that way in real time, in real dispatch they are running out to do that.”
Though the police department says they will still send officers if a situation looks like it poses a threat to public safety.
SUSIE MURRAY: “We wouldn’t want to send a mental health professional into an unsafe situation. So if we know from the onset that there are weapons involved, that person is posing a threat to themselves or others, we will still send police as we would in any other situation.”
Susie Murray, the Emergency Communications 911 Manager at Waco PD, says a crisis program like this has been needed in the community for a long time.
With the dispatch department currently understaffed, and an average of one call every two minutes, the new program will both benefit the department as well as community members suffering from mental health conditions.
SUSIE MURRAY: “We can now give this call over to someone who is trained. This is their specialty, this is their background, this is what they do, this is what they know. So it will give us the greatest outcome for the individual, but it also keeps us from having to send, hopefully, if the circumstances are in line, a police officer to a call where mental health or behavioral health professionals are more apt to deal with that situation if there is no present danger.
The partnership was made possible by a two million dollar mental health block grant given by the state to the Heart of Texas Behavioral Network.
Both the police department and the health care providers will undergo training in preparation for the job, and the program is expected to start as soon as employees are hired and trained.
Once it begins, it will only be in effect from 3 PM to 11 PM.
In the meantime, if you or someone you know is in need of mental health assistance in McLennan county, the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network runs a 24/7 mobile crisis outreach team, and you can call them at 1-866-752-3451.
Stay up to date on ‘The Heart of Texas Crisis Call Diversion’ program and other law enforcement initiatives happening in Waco, here on KWBU.
For 103.3 Waco Public Radio, I’m Autumn Jones.