YORK, Pa. — Police officers are on the front lines responding to increasing mental health emergency calls.
A new study by the American Psychological Association finds nearly 20% of all calls to law enforcement involve someone with a mental health crisis.
Captain Daniel Lentz says the trend is making the York City Police Department adapt its training of officers.
“This is why we made an effort to [push] our officers to become Crisis Intervention Officers," said Captain Lentz. "We made a big push this summer to get nearly all of our officers trained up in mental health first aid.”
York County also implemented co-responders to assist police in mental health calls, along with using its Handle with Care registry to protect officers and individuals in crisis.
Dr. Melissa Brown with UPMC says a number of police departments around the U.S. are experimenting with similar measures for mental health emergencies.
“When we have the right individual intervening in a situation, oftentimes we can avoid or prevent escalation of situations," said Dr. Brown.
While York City Police doesn’t have the exact number of mental health crisis calls they've received available, Captain Lentz says community members have responded positively to the change in police protocol.
With mental illness cases on the rise throughout the country, he says it’s important for first responders to be prepared in order to help individuals dealing with a crisis.
“It’s those difficult questions you have to have, especially for officers. We’re trying to break through the stigma," said Captain Lentz. “We really owe it to the community to give them the best level of service possible.”