Richmond advances new way of handling mental health emergencies

Lawmakers in 2020 passed legislation named after Marcus-David Peters, a 24-year-old unarmed biology teacher killed amid a mental health crisis in May 2018 by a Richmond police officer. The death, which touched off protests, led to years of grassroots organizing and advocacy for Virginia to rethink law enforcement’s role in responding to behavioral health emergencies.

Richmond is one of five localities in the system, which diverts emergency calls for mental health issues away from police and to behavioral health professionals. The program started in 2019 in collaboration with the Behavioral Health Authority, Richmond police and the city Department of Emergency Communications.

Calls are handled by the Community Response Team, a trained unit of behavioral health clinicians paired with law enforcement officers who respond to calls. The team operates within the city from 9:30 to 2 a.m. weekdays.

A planning group has been meeting twice monthly since December 2021. Work has focused on collecting input from residents and determining what resources are available.

“Many citizens now who might be experiencing a mental health issue or a family member, experiencing one, we would like them to not be afraid to call because of the fear that they’re going to be hurt rather than helped in that process,” John Lindstrom, CEO of the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, told the City Council Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

Database provides mental health background

In addition to Virginia’s 988 hotline for mental health emergencies, Richmond also uses a health profile database: a web-based tool that gives 911 dispatchers information about someone’s medical or behavioral conditions. Lindstrom said that the database is voluntary and can be useful when dispatching members of the Crisis Response Team.

“One of the challenges with those kinds of databases is they’re really only available in that locality,” said Lindstrom. “And emergency calls might come from phone numbers other than the number used to register the profile.”

The voluntary database was offered beginning July 2021, and helps dispatchers when they are referring a 911 call to regional call centers, which began operating in December 2021.

Dispatchers transferred 38 calls to the call center from October to December 2022, and Richmond’s Crisis Response Team responded to 227 calls for service from August to December 2022.

Those calls of service resulted in a 91% crisis diversion rate, 21 temporary detention orders and two arrests in relation to a domestic matter.

“We currently have a number of services identified that all work in tandem with Marcus Alert,” Lindstrom said, from 24-hour emergency services through the Behavioral Health Authority to mobile crisis teams, with more in the works.

What is ahead for program

Lindstrom said many parts of the Marcus Alert system are in place. Stakeholders are seeking training in trauma-informed care and response for their crisis response team members.

Richmond has offered crisis intervention training at up to six classes a year, and the Richmond Police Department has received more than a dozen Marcus Alert briefings via daily roll calls at local precincts.

What is next, Lindstrom said, is to increase public awareness of programs, explore funding options for more Crisis Response Team members and conduct ongoing meetings with community stakeholders. The next meeting is March 15.

The law requires that community services boards and behavioral health authorities have a community care or mobile crisis response team in place by summer 2026.