With a renewed national and local conversation on the role of police in responding to residents with mental health issues, local law enforcement and community mental health officials emphasized the partnership and unique roles each play in providing help. 

It’s a partnership that often requires both to respond to residents’ needs.

For law enforcement, that means ensuring everyone is safe in potentially dangerous situations, including mental health professionals. For community mental health staff, that means providing resources to those with mental illnesses, often after police have made first contact. 

“We have to all work together as a group of people,” St. Clair County Undersheriff Matt Paulus said. “(Law enforcement) have certain skills that we have to be the first ones in, and we understand that we signed up for that and that comes with responsibilities like accountability, but we’re not going to send someone into a scene that is not safe.”

Community mental health and crisis units

Crisis units are services provided by community mental health agencies that help people who may be experiencing acute symptoms of mental illness or issues related to intellectual or developmental disabilities, and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Crisis units respond, sometimes in person, to people in active crises and provide resources to prevent crises. 

Individuals may call the crisis unit themselves, or be referred by law enforcement, schools, medical facilities or family and friends. 

“The (mobile crisis unit) is like a catch-all,” St. Clair County Community Mental Health Community Relations Outreach Coordinator Adrian Luckenbacher said. “If you don’t know or you need a resource, give them a call and they’ll point you in the right direction. So it’s a lot of resourcing and a lot of crisis diversion.”

Law enforcement contacted the St. Clair County Mobile Crisis Unit regarding 52 people, 36 of who were already receiving services, between October 2019 and July 2020, according to St. Clair County Community Mental Health. 

Michelle Measel-Morris, St. Clair County Community Mental Health support services director, said these numbers don’t reflect all law enforcement contacts with CMH, although the mobile crisis unit is the primary contact method. 

From April 1 to July 1, 8% of after-hours crisis calls to Sanilac County Community Mental Health came from law enforcement, Sanilac County Community Mental Health CEO Wil Morris said.

CMH and crisis units act as a resource

Kathleen Gallagher, CMH program director, said before the mobile crisis unit enters a scene, police clear it first to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Police may enforce a petition for hospitalization if a person is a threat to themselves or others, but that can sometimes be a gray area. That’s when officers might call the mobile crisis unit to ask for services or if a person should be hospitalized.

The mobile crisis unit also helps prevent crises by being a resource for officers when they need it. Officers might reach out to CMH to link an individual to their therapist or counselor, or to link residents to services if they are not already a CMH client.

Paulus said a common occurrence is when a resident has had multiple contacts with police that clearly stem from a mental health issue, straining police resources. CMH eases that strain by linking individuals to resources so they don’t continue to call police. 

For example, Luckenbacher said Port Huron police had contacted CMH about a person who had refused to cut his lawn. He was hostile to anyone who entered his property due to mental health issues. 

The city requested police presence to cut the man’s lawn due to his hostility. However, police contacted CMH, who sent a veterans’ navigator to help the man feel comfortable while someone took care of his yard, avoiding a potential crisis situation, Luckenbacher said. 

Leslie Brown, masters-level CMH mobile crisis unit clinician, said CMH staff regularly visit the jail to check on inmates who are already receiving services, and a dedicated jail liaison who communicates with the jail’s health provider and ensures inmates are getting the proper mental health treatment. 

Sanilac County Community Mental Health also has a crisis unit that collaborates with Sanilac County police departments in a similar way to St. Clair County’s mobile crisis unit, Morris said. 

Sanilac County Undersheriff Brad Roff said a dedicated CMH staff member visits the Sanilac County jail to develop a rapport with inmates, check on them and address issues before they become crises. 

CMH provide mental health training for law enforcement

Sanilac County CMH has provided training to a large portion of the sheriff department and the Sandusky Police Department, Morris said.

“It would be nice to see more officers take mental health first aid and things like that, but in our community, our departments do as much as they can, given their departments are really small,” Morris said. “It would be hard to do training for all officers when you have a department that maybe only has four officers.”

St. Clair County CMH has conducted annual cross-training with Port Huron Police Department and the St. Clair County Sheriff Department for the past several years, St. Clair County CMH Executive Director Deb Johnson said. The curriculum was developed from ride-alongs between police and CMH staff when the mobile crisis unit was formed several years ago, helping everyone understand the others’ roles and the challenges they face. 

The training includes general training on mental health and the mobile crisis unit, as well as yearly specialized topics, such as interacting with people on the autism spectrum. 

While the county’s other smaller departments have not participated in the cross-training, Johnson said CMH has presented at the chiefs of police meeting so all departments in the county are aware of the mobile crisis unit as a resource. 

Port Huron Police Capt. Marcy Kuehn said individual officers also attend training CMH offers throughout the year on a wide variety of topics.

Port Huron Police had an officer attend critical incident stress anagement training through CMH. That officer is now a part of a county team that goes out to assist other first responders, schools and businesses that may need to speak to a trusted team of trained individuals to deal with trauma and expedite recovery.

Accessing resources

More resources and information are available.

• Visit St. Clair County CMH’s website at scccmh.org or Sanilac ‘s CMH website at sanilaccmh.org for more information on their services and programs.
• To access the St. Clair County’s CMH Mobile Crisis Unit, call (810) 966-2575. 
• To access St. Clair County’s or Sanilac’s CMH’s services and begin the intake process, call (888) 225-4447.

Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LM_Fitz.

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