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Lexington police moving toward crisis intervention, social workers for some calls

Lexington Herald-Leader - 11/18/2020

Nov. 18--Lexington police will now have access to crisis intervention counselors to help with calls involving mental illness, addiction or people experiencing homelessness.

New Vista, the community mental health provider for Fayette County and the surrounding 16 counties, recently received a two-year federal grant for a crisis intervention team. That team can be called to help police with someone who needs mental health or other services. That grant is for a five-county area, including Fayette County.

The program started Sept. 1.

Laura Hatfield, director of One Lexington, a violence intervention program, told a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council committee on Tuesday a member of that crisis team could be available on the telephone, via telehealth or could go to scenes if needed.

"They can deploy an individual and support that person," Hatfield said. "They have a full-time staff of five people."

Hatfield said the police are aware of the new program but are trying to better publicize it. New Vista is producing a video that will be available soon and distributed widely so officers are informed of the new crisis intervention services.

In addition, Lexington police started last week to track calls in which a social worker or mental health professional would have been helpful, Hatfield said.

Dr. Jay Miller, the dean of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work who has worked as a social worker with the Louisville Police Department, recommended Lexington police begin to track when a social worker would have been needed or helpful.

Miller said tracking those calls could help the city secure future funding. Miller said federal or state funding likely will be available.

"This will help us document need," Miller said during Tuesday's Planning and Public Safety Committee.

Miller and UK graduate school social workers are interested in possibly helping New Vista and the police with the new program by placing graduate school social workers with New Vista.

Other cities are exploring or have hired social workers or mental health professionals to answer some police calls that do not involve crime.

In 2016, the Alexandria police chief hired a social worker to help answer 911 calls after noticing nearly two-thirds of the 911 calls were not about potential lawbreaking. Most of the calls were for mental health problems.

Police were often repeatedly called to the same houses for noncriminal activity. Hiring a social worker to connect people with services they needed helped police officers focus on crime, said police officials in the Kentucky town south of Cincinnati.

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