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Under the program, licensed behavioral health counselors or nurses make themselves readily available to law enforcement officers to peacefully resolve calls for service, involving mentally ill patients or the homeless. In some cases, specialists respond with deputies or police officers to 911 calls, provided there are no immediate risks to safety. We may be able to get to the subjects and triage the situation in the field, saving a lot of time, money and resources, Vrooman said.
He acknowledged the goal is, whenever possible, to keep mentally ill individuals or chronic substance abusers from landing in the correctional system. The preference is to divert them into treatment centers or hospitals, if that level of care is truly needed.
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The goal is, whenever possible, to keep mentally ill individuals or chronic substance abusers from landing in the correctional system. (Renee Schiavone/Patch)
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA The Board of Supervisors Tuesday signed off on a plan by the Riverside County Sheriff s Department and Riverside University Health System to expand behavioral health teams that can be deployed to assist in defusing situations involving mentally ill residents, or others who may need help finding treatment opportunities. We want more of these teams because they can help with heading off situations, Undersheriff Dennis Vrooman told the board. We re not adding new law enforcement personnel. A lot of it is about counseling, providing services to people who may just be off their medication.