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This new program makes Athens deputies better prepared to handle calls involving a mental health crisis
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Earlier this year, Zayne Preston saw a story in the news about a young man with autism who was gunned down by police during a confrontation.
“I didn’t agree with the call, how they handled it. But I don’t think any of our guys would have put themselves in a situation like that,” said Preston, a deputy with the Athens County Sheriff’s Office.
“But then I thought, well, what if they don’t know? So, how do we get the not knowing part handled before we ever get there?”
His answer was to create a confidential database where people with mental health disorders can fill out a simple online form and answer a few questions about their condition.
This database, which he named the Peaceful Encounter Program, went live recently, and since then people have been signing up at a pretty steady clip.
So they’re operating on the fly, making snap decisions.
And some calls present more risk of escalating from bad to worse depending on how things unfold after officers arrive.
“There’s always a lump in the back of your throat when you go to certain calls and just like, man, I hope this just goes smooth for our sake and everybody else’s sake,” Preston said. “The mental health crisis calls are up there in terms of having that lump in the back of your throat.”
At the same time, the people on the other end of those calls, the ones in the midst of some kind of crisis, have their own fears.
Chaz Canter-Scott is director of crisis services for Hopewell Health Centers and provides crisis intervention training to local law enforcement and other first responders.
He notes that some people with mental health issues may have had bad experiences with law enforcement, or have heard about other encounters that did not end well, such as the fatal shooting of the autistic man.
“A lot of times they’re scared,” he said.
Be patient and take it slow
The Peaceful Encounter Program is intended to address some of the unknowns. Preston said he built the program drawing on bits and pieces from other similar registries.
People who sign up are asked to provide their mental health diagnosis if they have one and list the things they like to talk about and the topics to avoid discussing with them, which could be triggering.
“Before, we didn’t have any of that information,” Preston said. “So we would try and navigate conversations and just for lack of a better term, walk on eggshells and just kind of tiptoe around like, OK, maybe we don’t talk about that subject or we kind of steer this way. … But now with this information, it’s like, OK, we are not talking about that. I’m not bringing that up.”
Just knowing someone’s diagnosis can help with the overall approach on arrival. Those first moments that can either begin to de-escalate the situation or make it worse. Canter-Scott mentioned autism as an example:
“Overstimulating someone with autism is not always a great idea,” he said. “That could be lights, that could be sirens, that could be talking to them really loudly or demanding something from them.”
Canter-Scott says one of the most important things when dealing with someone in a mental health crisis is to be patient and take it slow.
“What’s not helpful is rushing the situation,” he said. “It takes as long as it takes in those scenarios.”
And it can involve a lot of talking.
Preston says he’s fine with this. He meets with everyone who signs up on the database and mentioned a conversation he had with one of the them.
“He was like, if you just sit down and have a conversation with me, then most of the problems are going to work themselves out. I was like, buddy, I’ll sit with you. … If I don’t have another call, I’ll sit and talk to you all day.”
Preston says this is often preferable to taking someone to the hospital, sometimes against their will, for evaluation, or arresting them and booking them into jail.
“Not everybody in law enforcement thinks like I do, but I don’t see any reason why any of that is necessary if we can just have a conversation and figure it out.”