RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Staffing concerns and the ongoing mental health crisis are both impacting the City of Richmond’s ability to fully operate the Marcus Alert System.
Implemented by 10 local governments in the federation marcus alert system Since the death of Marcus David Peters in 2018. Two areas in central Virginia, Chesterfield and Richmond, belong to that group.
8News spoke with Paula Bartlett and Scott Ward of the Richmond Behavioral Health Agency (RBHA) about the program.
Bartlett said a partnership between police officers and mental health professionals allows for appropriate interventions.
“When you call 911, the first thing you say is, ‘I don’t want the police to come,'” Bartlett said.
Bartlett said Marcus Alert allows authorities to make informed decisions about which personnel to send to the scene.
“Sometimes it’s warranted and requires police presence,” Bartlett said. “But we can [also] Bring clinical staff to the scene of the crisis. ”
As valuable as this program is, it faces significant challenges.
“We’re very busy. We’re getting more calls than we can handle,” Barrett said.
Currently, one of the two teams designed for this program is in place. This is because both the Richmond Police Department and his RBHA partners need to hire people to fill critical roles in the program, such as clinicians and designated police officers who respond to mental health calls.
“We could use four teams, we could use six teams,” Barrett said. “We really need a 24-hour response to meet the needs of the Richmond community.”
911 receives approximately 1,000 mental health calls each week. RBHA The Richmond Police Department encourages anyone interested in joining the team to apply so we can continue to meet this need.
If you are interested in applying to the Richmond Police Department, please call (804) 646-6733.
