Bedford (WBAP/KLIF News) – Police in Hurst, Euless and Bedford have started working together to divert people with mental illness from jail and to treatment programs. Since the project started, they say they have seen fewer repeat calls about the same people.
“It’s really been a remarkable turnaround,” says Bedford Mayor Jim Griffin.
Griffin says officers are trained to recognize mental health issues and are working more closely with organizations that work with people with mental illness. Police from the three departments have opened a storefront on Pipeline Road that specializes in mental health cases.
“This is community policing at its best, I think,” Griffin says. “The whole focus is for our police to try to be on the front end of helping clients.”
Griffin says 98 percent of officers in the three cities have gone through a 40 hour course on how to respond to people with mental health issues. He says any officer or support staff who work with the public will go through training on how to identify mental illness and how to divert that person to treatment.
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