East Texas

By KELLY PREW
Staff Writer

RUSK - Cherokee County soon will hire a mental health deputy through the sheriff's department with state funding provided through Anderson Cherokee Community Enrichment Services (ACCESS).

Commissioners on Monday approved the proposal, presented by Sheriff James Campbell and ACCESS Executive Director Allyn Lang.

Campbell said the county responds, on average, five times a month to mental health calls that require transport to a local hospital so ACCESS can be called in to make an evaluation.

"Often, when we get a mental health commitment, it is after hours and we have to get them medically cleared," Campbell said. "The mental health deputy's job would be to take care of those."

Lang explained the last Texas Legislature approved a portion of $82 million to improve mental health crisis response. Those monies were distributed to mental health centers statewide based on need per capita.

ACCESS was given $230,000 for fiscal year 2008 and $290,000 for 2009 to set up mobile crisis outreach teams in Cherokee and Anderson counties.

The team will be made up of ACCESS staff and the mental health deputy.

The goal is to take the burden off sheriff's deputies often pulled off patrol to deal with cases for hours at a time.

"Two major problems were identified when someone is in crisis and law enforcement is involved," Lang said.

"One, the officer is taken off the streets to deal with that person for two, three or four hours. Emergency rooms often would like it if we could get there quicker, also. And our staff can't always drop what they're doing and go if they are dealing with cases.

"The (deputy) will be able to shepherd that (mental health case) through the process. It would allow our staff to go into unsecured places. Up to this point, we went to places that were secured environments, such as emergency rooms, to do evaluations, not to someone's home. But if we have an officer, that allows us to more safely go into those places."

Campbell said the deputy could be invaluable in cases that become violent, which is not uncommon.

"We deal with mental health cases more and more every year," Campbell said. "We see all ages and races and all sexes. Sometimes, it can be someone off medication, or it can be something more serious.

"These people, regardless of what's wrong with them, can hurt themselves or someone else, and our primary goal to see they or no one else gets hurt."

Campbell and Lang agree having one deputy responsible for those calls would provide consistency, not only for the crisis team, but for repeat cases in which the officer would have some background.

"This helps the subject, but it also helps the department," Campbell said.

Lang said the mental health deputy program is not new, and has been established in the state for a number of years.

Deputies in those roles are required to be certified through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

Campbell said he hopes to have a deputy in place within the next month who would then attend the 40-hour training to work with the crisis team.

"We will work out the details of how this will work out over the next several months," Lang said. "We then will figure out how best to work together."

ACCESS will pay salary and benefits for the deputy position. A response vehicle also will be provided for the deputy with state funding.

When not responding to calls, the deputy could be generally assigned within the sheriff's department.

Anderson County approved the same action in late February, and, according to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, a deputy has been hired.