SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – A recent report from the Monterey County Civil Grand Jury found additional ways law enforcement and mental health services can better support people struggling with mental health.
In Monterey County, 15 to 37 percent of calls were for mental health crises, according to the report.
A recent report from the Monterey County Grand Jury has pulled the curtain on how local law enforcement can better respond to mental health calls with proper training.
The report focuses on the county’s two largest agencies, the Salinas Police Department and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
“Ninety percent of our officers are CIT trained,” said Salinas Acting Police Chief John Murray. “The other 10% of him is usually joined by new officers.”
The report says smaller jurisdictions like the Greenfield Police Department may find it difficult. Greenfield Police Chief Bill Mixer said mental health crisis intervention training is still available.
“We started two years ago when we were on the board,” Mixer said. “Our new officers were undergoing initial training in our department. We put them through a week-long program and then they came back and continued their training.”
Some recommendations include increasing public awareness of the mobile crisis teams provided by the county;
“We felt like anything that was this valuable to our community should be blown up everywhere,” said Christine Lerable, who served on the 2023-2024 civil grand jury.
It also calls on the Salinas Police Department and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office to make their standards and policies available to the public.
Most recommendations have a deadline of June or July.
“Actually, this is something we’ve been working on for a while,” Murray said. “We can meet that requirement without any problem.”
Last year, there were 1,073 calls to our mobile crisis management team, almost double the number in 2021.
Melanie Rose with the Monterey County Department of Behavior said, “We have clinics in every area of the county. People walk in, seek services, and are screened for both their mental health and substance use and need for services.” , and will be introduced accordingly.” public health center.
Our mobile crisis intervention team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
