Crisis intervention team in the works for Lincoln County

After years of dealing with people on the worst days of their lives, Vanessa Williamson started looking for ways to improve how local first responders intervene in crises.

As a probation officer, she knew many inmates in the Lincoln County Detention Center suffered from substance abuse and mental illnesses. From working with other law enforcement officers, she also knew first responders had limited resources when it came to helping people going through a mental health crisis.

In an effort to remedy both issues, Williamson is joining forces with local private practitioners and other first responders to create a crisis intervention team.

Williamson said she learned about the concept during a training event in January. A detective from Lewis and Clark County told her first responders throughout the country had established teams to improve their responses to mental and substance abuse crises.

To become part of a team, responders have to take a 40-hour course that addresses a series of different scenarios. Suicide intervention, substance abuse and developmental disabilities are among the topics covered by the training, according to the Montana Department of Justice.

After attending training in Helena, Williamson signed up to coordinate a session in Kalispell. In a show of support, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Libby Police Department sent Deputy Luke Hauke and Police Sgt. Christopher Pape to attend the session.

Mavis Vaillancourt, a Libby-based social worker who also participated in the training in Kalispell, deemed the course well done and informative.

“I got a lot of practical applications to situations and scenarios,” she said. “Getting to experience what some of our clients have to go through is a good reminder of why we do what we do.”

Vaillancourt, who provides emergency mental health evaluations to county detention center inmates, said the training would help first responders deescalate crises before the incidents rose to the level of requiring arrests.

In addition to training deputies, police and EMTs, the program is tailored towards other professionals and volunteers — such as school staff and detention center employees — who may encounter crises in their work.

Williamson is tentatively planning to hold a 40-hour course locally next spring. Although the effort remains in its infancy, it has received the approval of Justice Court Judge Jay Sheffield.

“The more we looked into it, the more it looked like a good idea,” said Sheffield.

Libby Chief of Police Scott Kessel agreed, noting that crisis intervention could reduce use-of-deadly-force incidents and incarcerations. While his officers might have a handle on which locals struggle with substance abuse and mental illness, Kessel said there is no telling when a routine call might turn into a crisis.

Were Williamson to succeed in bringing the intervention course to Lincoln County, Kessel said it would significantly help him manage the logistics of getting all his officers trained. With only six members on the Libby force, it would take multiple years and cost the department significantly more in overtime and lodging.

While relatively new to northwest Montana, crisis intervention teams have cropped up nationwide, primarily in larger cities, over the past 20 years. In the wake of protests over police accountability and racial justice, some departments with intervention teams saw criticism for not going far enough.

The Washington Post reported that nearly a quarter of all people killed by police between 2015 and September 2020 had a known mental illness.

Some intervention team trainers have even spoken out against the way locales implement the system. Ron Bruno, a former police officer and the executive director of Crisis Intervention Team International, told NPR that municipalities and counties often fail to use the system in a way that routes calls away from law enforcement.

“If you keep throwing money at training officers, and that’s all you do, and not address the system around mental health care, you’ll continue to have nothing but problems,” Bruno told NPR.

Williamson envisions Lincoln County’s intervention team going far beyond the training component. In addition to working with social workers like Vaillancourt, Williamson has applied for a $200,000 grant spread over two years through the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The grant could help the team put a trained mental health professional on call to respond to crises in the field.

Kessel said expanding the intervention team in this capacity would be a boon for his department. When responding to mental health crises or domestic disputes, he said the presence of uniformed officers can exacerbate the situation. While police would still be at the scene, Kessel said having a trained mental health professional make the first contact would significantly help deescalate crises.

“We would be there as a last resort instead of the only resort,” he said.

Williamson expected to hear back from DPHHS on the grant within the next couple of weeks.