By Steve Bohnel
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato , emergency services Chief Matt Brown , Department of Human Services officials and municipal mayors and law enforcement officials met Tuesday to provide an update on the county’s alternative response pilot program, which is intended to assist local police with behavioral health calls and mental health crises that might be better handled with professionals trained to deescalate those situations.
Ms. Innamorato and others said at a news conference at the Penn Hills municipal building that the model is meant to help local law enforcement agencies and to help free officers up for violent crime and other priorities. It’s a “fundamental shift” in how county officials and local law enforcement agencies are addressing public safety and behavioral health.
“Instead of relying solely on traditional municipal first responders, we’ve co-designed a system that prioritizes de-escalation, mental health expertise and connections to community-based services for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis,” Ms. Innamorato said. “This means they’ll receive the right care, from the right people, at the right time.”
Ms. Innamorato said that the pilot communities of Penn Hills and Monroeville have run 41 such calls in the past three weeks. County officials have contracted with the “A-Team” of about 28 people, which operates from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, according to officials.
Jon Chillinsky, director of the A-Team, said his staff members use three vans to help respond to calls throughout Penn Hills and Monroeville and his teams are trained to deal with behavioral health issues and related mental health cases. He added they will get involved in domestic disputes and criminal cases if local law enforcement deems it is safe to do so.
But his teams will not deploy if local authorities say it is unsafe, Mr. Chillinsky said.
“Generally speaking, it is a call that is non-violent and non-medically related,” he said. “So a lot of our calls, individuals are in a state of psychosis. They are having delusions or [things have] escalated.”
Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services, said that the program is an important step toward “a more just and compassionate system” for those who need help. She and Ms. Innamorato said that with the holiday season approaching, it can be difficult for some families who are dealing with stress and difficult situations, for a variety of reasons.
Parents can be struggling with emotionally distressed children, neighbors can be arguing, adults can have stress caring for their parents with dementia, and some can have suicidal thoughts, among other scenarios, Ms. Dalton said.
Chief Brown, the county’s emergency services director, said the new program is welcome for traditional first responders, like police or fire departments because some calls go beyond the scope of traditional situations — whether it be a behavioral health crisis, mental health issue, or substance abuse.
The county’s EMS team already has a complex job — there are almost 400 first responder agencies in Allegheny County, and 130 municipalities, all working with one 911 call center, Mr. Brown said. It has been important to work with local police, DHS, and others to help roll out the pilot alternative response program. He and others hope to expand it to more communities in early 2025.
Ms. Dalton said the local municipal police departments approve which calls are eligible for the A-team to respond to. It’s important to get the front-end of 911 calls right in establishing the protocol of who responds to certain calls, she said. Having the social services on the back end is often the easier part of the equation, she said.
County DHS officials worked with local municipal leaders, police departments, county EMS and other partners to see who might be interested in an initial rollout of the program. Those conversations are ongoing as the county looks to expand in 2025, said Jennifer Batterton, a senior DHS official who was heavily involved in developing the program.
A countywide model is eventually the goal, Ms. Dalton said.
” DHS and emergency services isn’t going to require communities to join,” she said. “But I think as communities see how this is working, more and more will be excited to join.”
DHS officials could not immediately recall how much the initial contract with the A-Team cost when asked Tuesday. But Mr. Chillinsky said that expansion is definitely doable in the coming months, with enough funding and manpower.
There are people who aren’t trained to deal with putting out a fire or handling a criminal case — but who know there are numerous circumstances where behavioral health expertise could come in handy.
“There’s a lot of social workers and people with experience that have seen these crises happen that want to get involved,” he said. “So we haven’t had any shortage of individuals that want to do the work.”
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