Columbus to expand hours for special 911 response unit to handle mental health calls

While members of an activist group seek changes to the Columbus police response to mental health crises to limit potentially deadline outcomes, the city of Columbus announced on Monday that it is expanding a pilot 911 response unit program begun a year ago.

The Columbus Safety Collective had demanded in July that the city begin an alternative emergency response program that excludes armed police during a mental health crisis response. The collective's organizer, Alwiyah Shariff, had said that her group believes current measures don't go far enough to prevent officers from handling emergency calls that might better be handled by social service and mental health experts.

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said the city plans to double the manpower and hours of available service for its 911 Right Response Unit program. He called the city's current approach "holistic and expansive," while also acknowledging that police response isn't necessary for all calls for service.

The unit consists of a dispatcher, a Columbus Public Health social worker and a city Division of Fire paramedic who are embedded in the 911 dispatch call center to review and screen calls that might be suitable for a response that excludes police.

Read more: Group wants to exclude police from certain mental health crisis runs

"They don't always have the necessary training or experience to help certain individuals who are in the midst of extreme distress," Ginther said of police. "And quite frankly, their time can be better spent doing what they're trained to do, fight violent crime in our neighborhoods."

Ginther said the program is "reducing the demands on our officers' time and attention, and getting the right response to people who are in urgent need of specialized attention and treatment."

In its first year, the Right Response Unit took 1,300 calls, a third of which didn't require any police response, said Marian Stuckey, founder of the Columbus CARE (Community Action Resilience and Empowerment) Coalition and the response unit's coordinator.

Of those total calls, 12 ended in an arrest, but none required use of force, Stuckey said.

The city now plans to expand the current four hours of daily service to eight hours. If enough social workers can be hired, the program would expand service from 8:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday.

Shariff could not immediately be reached for comment Monday about the city's Right Response expansion plans.

The city also has a Mobile Crisis Response Unit which pairs a police officer trained in crisis intervention with mental health and substance abuse clinicians. The program has clinicians and officers on the street together for about 18 hours a day, seven days a week, who respond to about 6,000 calls.

Read more: Columbus City Council hoping to expand pilot program for mental health response

Alverta Muhammad, a Columbus Public Health worker who has responded to many of the 911 calls, recalled at a news conference Monday an elderly woman who had threatened to kill herself in the presence of children.

"I was able to talk to her for about 90 minutes," Muhammad said. While police eventually did respond to the scene, there was no arrest or violence. "This is the kind of support our families need," she said.

Ginther, who is the son of a social worker, said that deciding when a a mental health crisis might turn violent is not easy.

"It's tough, but it's necessary for us" to try alternative 911 responses, Ginther said. "I think we're learning a lot from this process.

"Don't forget, law enforcement is not excluded from this process," he reminded. "They're just not the first folks on the scene."

dnarciso@dispatch.com

@DeanNarciso