The New Castle County Police Department is sending a clinical social worker to respond to mental health related 911 calls.
Connections Mental Health Professional Lisa Shaffer is riding along in the squad car of Officer 1st Class Colleen Kearns. The two act as first responders to all mental health crisis calls to New Castle County Police and follow up with other cases involving a person in need of mental health services.
“We will follow up with those complaints and see what we can do about putting people in touch with services—making sure if they do get arrested they get to mental health court so that they can get evaluation to get the services they need,” said Kearns.
Kearns adds Shaffer is able to connect people to mental health support much more efficiently than the police could otherwise.
“One called because she was like, ‘somebody is living under my house.’ Obviously nobody was living under the house. There was no crime. She was not a danger to herself or others, but she obviously needed support,” said Kearns. “So we went out, followed up, got her connected with a promise team and now she has a full support team.”
A federal grant from the Department of Justice will fund Shaffer’s work with New Castle County Police for one year. Officer Kearns says she hopes funding will be renewed next year. She says she and Shaffer respond to three to eight calls each day and adds the department could use additional mental health professionals.
