Cache of guns found in Arlington
UPDATED, Feb. 21: The Arlington Police Department has been selected as one of four new mental-health learning sites in the United States for law enforcement, and will serve as an example of how police can improve relations with those suffering from mental illnesses.
As such a site, the department will provide resources for state and local law-enforcement agencies that are developing or enhancing collaboration between police and mental-health professionals. General examples includes teams for crisis intervention, co-response and mobile crisis as well as case-management or tailored approaches. The aim is to more effectively respond to people with mental illnesses.
An anecdote reported by The Globe tells illustrates: On Feb. 15, Arlington officers went to the home of a man with mental-health issues and removed dozens upon dozens of firearms from his residence. The man had a hoarding problem and a license to legally own weapons. Three police cruisers were used to take them away, Chief Fred Ryan told The Globe.
Ryan credited the peaceful outcome to the way Arlington officers are trained to deal with individuals with mental-health issues,
Arlington police will also be available to answer questions from the field, host site visits and work with Council of State Governments Justice Center staff to develop materials for practitioners and community partners.
Jail diversion, opiate efforts cited
The justice center chose the Arlington department to be one of four new nationwide learning sites in the light of the success of the town’s jail-diversion program and the Arlington Opiate Outreach Initiative.
In an effort to expand the knowledge base for law-enforcement agencies interested in starting or enhancing a program, the justice center, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, now has 10 police departments acting as national law-enforcement mental health learning sites.
“It is an honor to be one of 10 agencies in the country recognized by the CSG Justice Center as a resource for our law enforcement partners and mental health agencies looking to expand their services,” Chief Frederick Ryan said in a the Feb. 20 news release. “We have seen our approach in Arlington work successfully and hope to help other cities and towns achieve the same results.”
The opiate-outreach effort was instituted in June 2015 and blends police work and community engagement to assist those suffering from addiction and mental illness. Using it, town police have expanded access to Naloxone (nasal Narcan) to people in the community.
Additionally, the department’s mental health clinician, who has taken on the role of opiate-outreach coordinator, holds regular meetings with residents to provide services, resources and treatment options that help empower families to get their loved ones the help they need to recover. The effort has made such an impact in Arlington that it has been implemented by police departments, cities and towns nationwide.
Begun in November 2010, jail diversion works to prevent people with mental illnesses and substance-abuse disorders from entering the criminal-justice system. Having an in-house mental health clinician has allowed the Police Department to connect residents with treatment and services, prevent unnecessary trips to emergency departments and has shortened the length of time officers spend at mental-health calls for service.
With both programs, Arlington officers have undergone numerous training sessions that have prepared the department for its learning-site status. Areas of specialized instruction include mental health first-aid, autism, substance abuse, hoarding, veteran services, domestic violence, elder abuse, Narcan and crisis deescalation.
The three other newly selected sites are the Madison County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio and the Tucson Police Department in Arizona.
Globe, Feb. 20: When it comes to mental illness, Arlington police aim to be proactive
This news announcement was published Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, and updated Feb. 21.
