BLUFFTON, SC (WSAV) — Police and suspect mental health management. That is the goal of a Lowcountry police department as it puts an expert on the payroll.
The Bluffton Police Department (BPD) is the first to have a full-time Community Mental Health Advocate on staff.
Hannah Anderson said that her grandfather was a corrections officer and that the first time he started going to prison, he felt a calling. A want to help.
“They need help more than anyone else,” Anderson said. “I just fell in love with helping people that no one else is helping or no one else wants to help. The forgotten people in our society”.
Anderson, originally from Nebraska, came with her husband, an offshore drilling instructor on Parris Island, to the Lowcountry armed with a degree in mental health and a desire to serve.
At the same time, after the George Floyd incident and protests, Bluffton Councilwoman Bridgette Frazier was working with the police and city council to get a full-time mental health advocate on staff at the Department.
“We can’t do the same thing and expect a different result,” Frazier explained his reasoning for the job. “We have to dig in and do something different.”
“Instead of just talking about the problems, how do we find a solution that can be lasting and impact the community,” Frazier continued.
Frazier’s hard work paid off and the Bluffton police got the money they needed to hire Anderson.
Now on the job for about six months, Anderson works every day and gets phone calls from people in the community.
“The best way to build rapport is to be dependable to answer the phone no matter what time it is,” explains Anderson. “Sometimes it’s not even an emergency for them, they just need someone to talk to and be that listening ear for them.”
As well as reaching out to local agencies and mental health partners and traveling with officers two days a week to get a sense of how they feel.
“Officers worry but they don’t have time to worry,” Anderson explained. “They have to get to the next call. They don’t have time to call family and friends and get information.”
The walk allows you to get down to business with some of the people you talk to on the phone about your problems.
“Many people are not trusted by law enforcement and mental health professionals,” Anderson said. “So building that trust by saying we’re not trying to lock you up, we just want to help you is critical.”
Frazier says the services Anderson and Bluffton Police provide are invaluable to those in the community who need it most.
“You offer better resources to citizens who shouldn’t be afraid of their disease being criminalized but know they can get the help they need,” Frazier said.
“Many people have cried out for help. It’s only when those cries for help are not heard or resolved that people strike out and it’s a way for someone to step in so they don’t feel isolated and can transform with that.”
“It is us (the Town of Bluffton) recognizing that if you are in crisis, we want to match you with someone who will not only provide immediate assistance, but also stay with you long-term to help you with follow-up to help you with resources like NAMI Frazier explains.
A way for the police to be both proactive and reactive, according to Anderson.
Anderson will answer calls as needed, wearing a bulletproof vest across her chest, but armed only with her skills as a mental health professional and her knowledge of many of these people’s past issues, and how her family works with them. them every day.
Skills that can be even more valuable than a taser or a gun. Skills that can hopefully prevent someone from harming themselves or others, and prevent law enforcement from having to make a difficult decision that could turn out to be deadly.
Anderson will travel at the end of the year to become certified as a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) instructor.
CIT has reduced serious injuries and fatalities during interactions between police and people with mental illness. Nationally, it has also been shown to reduce the time officers spend responding to a mental health call and save departments money with a community-based approach to mental health treatment instead of incarceration.
Anderson will be back to train the rest of the Department on the procedures and the Chief’s goal is for everyone at BPD to be CIT trained.