Most Vermont barracks now have a mental health crisis worker

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — Nearly all of the state police barracks in Vermont now have an embedded mental health crisis worker.

The Burlington Free Press reports that the Vermont Department of Public Safety has hired mental health workers for nine of its 10 barracks, who ride in cruisers with troopers and interact with the public alone while the trooper stays in the car when it’s safe to do so.

Mourning Fox, who oversees the program, said he did not know of any other statewide agencies in the U.S. that have built a partnership like this between police and mental health services.

While the program is still new, Vermont Department of Public Safety officials say the results are positive so far, especially with the increasing number of mental health calls to police departments in recent years. The mental health workers have helped some people voluntarily seek treatment if needed, and follow up after to ensure they’re getting the help they need, the agency said.

Local mental health and disability rights advocates said more needs to be done to address mental health needs in the state, and the American Civil Liberties Union in Vermont said mental health services shouldn’t have such close ties to police long-term.

The Department of Public Safety hired its first embedded mental health crisis specialist six years ago as a pilot program. The program was expanded across the agency after Fox, the former deputy commissioner for the Department of Mental Health, was hired in August to oversee it.

Fox said in the months ahead, they’ll evaluate the program based on whether there have been decreases in the total number of mental health calls, in the number of repeat calls, in calls resulting in use of force by troopers and in the number of unnecessary emergency room visits.

If the program does reduce call volume and use of force incidents, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling said he hopes it can serve as a model for other police departments. Schirling worked on a similar program in Burlington when he served as chief of police. That program still exists and has evolved since he left in 2015.