How is mental health crisis response taking shape here?

Anybody who is up on current events knows there is a sea change happening in law enforcement activities and defining best practices in the name of public safety.

The conversation picked up steam, locally, when police shot and killed a woman who was brought to the attention of emergency responders in North Branch as being suicidal and armed.

As the outside investigation continues into the North Branch Police actions that resulted in Jaimie Crabtree’s death, the role of the crisis response team which is mandated to be available in all Minnesota counties, is under scrutiny. Where were the crisis team members? When does non-armed response get dispatched? Wasn’t there a state law passed to prevent these types of tragedies?

Chisago County has a state mandated Crisis Response Team through Canvas Health, a non-profit mental health provider, and it covers the region 7E territory. This includes four other counties and the Mille Lacs tribe territory. In checking with the Chisago County 9-1-1 communications center director Alicia Stovern, this team would not have cleared the dispatchers “decision tree” questioning system (see graphic) and the incident met conditions as a law enforcement call.

The concerns in sending a mental health team included the fact the victim was not reported to be at a specific address, she was generally in a North Branch neighborhood. Dispatchers would not have known where to tell a crisis team member to go. The team complies with state law for training and mental health skills, yet these people are originating from miles and miles away. They don’t have lights and sirens to get places quickly. And, there is a shortage in available licensed mental health counselors.

Canvas Health’s Jay Theisen said the legislature needs to be re-engaged in fine tuning the Crisis Response Team mandate called Travis’ Law.

Chisago County also developed its own crisis negotiations team consisting of 13 trained persons from chaplains to city police officers to people working in probation. The number of assists that have successfully avoided a tragic ending like Jaimie Crabtree’s death, when this group has resolved tense incidents in emergency rooms and elsewhere, don’t land in the spotlight.

Chisago County Sheriff Brandon Thyen worked as the county’s jail administrator years ago, and realized at that time that incarcerated people with mental health issues, presented a unique challenge.

It is not a criminal offense to have struggles with mental illness, he commented, but when the struggle involves a weapon or a threat of harm to others, there needs to be a law enforcement response.

Jails have operated for years as the default housing for those with mental health issues. Chisago County has a Sheriff who understands that institutional and cultural changes are two different things and his policy has been to work towards solutions.

Chisago County has a fairly new jail/public safety center, and the Health & Human Services department, police agencies and others have come together to develop a new approach to mental health rooted incidents. A new position, Community Outreach Social Worker, using federal funding was developed. Chisago County hired a person who was just brought on board in December 2023. She will be in a position to assess mental health needs, do checks on if a subject has a file active elsewhere and connect them to resources. She can interact with family members on private medical concerns, which can be information law enforcement isn’t authorized to access.

Thyen explains the recent improvements to the system will be reviewed and statistics analyzed for successes and to figure out what is not needed.

Meanwhile, there is an independent investigation underway on the fatal use of force in the North Branch case. The sheriff did state that adhering to the accepted “decision tree” —the screening tool that Chisago County dispatchers use— the armed response dispatched June 27 was by the book.

The state passed the Crisis Response Team rule or Travis’ Law, in 2021. A relative of the North Branch victim, connected with a mental health organization that has a stated mission “to get police out of cases of mental health crisis.” This group convened a public discussion forum on mental health response rules and protocols used in the Crabtree case. The meeting was held at North Branch Library last week.

Organization spokesperson Michelle Gross explained she has concluded the county is “falling down” on meeting standards under the mental health response laws. She added that local authorities had been called five times (from incident reports involving the shooting victim name and or address) before the June tragedy.

The 9-1-1 director for the county disputes that these contacts were remotely relevant to the victim’s mental health.

The 2021 Travis’ Law is named for a man, Travis Jordan, killed by law enforcement when his emergency would have been better-handled by a mental health-trained worker. Travis’ Law changed what was an optional use of crisis team services in Minnesota to wording that there SHALL be a qualified individual or team available to be dispatched by 9-1-1.

Canvas Health Director of Outpatient Clinics, Administrative Services and HIPPA Compliance Jay Theisen, said implementing the letter of the law is not as simple as it sounds. Speakers at the library forum last week agreed the state legislature will be adjusting Travis’ Law in coming sessions and hopefully addressing clarity and funding issues.

Gross explained, “...our framing is, these are medical emergencies.” The most cost effective method to address somebody in mental health crisis is to stabilize and ensure intervention (specialists) are offered.

She said most statistics show infrequently deadly weapons that threaten the public’s safety, are involved, but in this incident there was a firearm in the mix. (Another incident involving North Branch officers firing upon and injuring a man with a machete, also had the added element of an order for protection in the process of being violated.)

Gross explains she became active in issues around mental health crisis situations while caring for a loved one with persistent and serious mental illness. She found herself having to interact with agencies, responders, the legal system and public organizations. Gross, working as a nurse, branched into working with legal counsel and this led to helping attorneys who represent clients with cases against police and emergency responders.

She has pursued a more pro-active approach and got involved in drafting legislation alongside state lawmakers. She currently is very involved in fixing ‘Travis’s Law”

She also stresses that in using Travis’ Law effectively, local costs can be reduced. The hope is to eliminate ambulance transports, and develop secure options; also to establish informed medications systems in jails and prisons, and expand access to care and recovery. Even the coding of a mental illness emergency call on a 9-1-1 log needs to be simplified so statistics can be tracked better.

Crisis Response Team providers, like Canvas Health, need funding when the insurance plans (if coverage even exists) don’t come through.

Theisen mentioned there are post secondary schools that will pay off degree and licensure expenses if the professional works in the mental health field on a program like Travis’ Law. He urges to contact your choice of school first to see if this is an option.

There is a hurdle to clear in getting people to use the national 988 crisis number as well. Gross says we have been trained well, to contact 9-1-1 when things escalate and she says law enforcement does not have to be the first option all the time. As Minnesota builds its alternative response and co-responding programs, the community can end police-only calls by contacting 988 or reach out to a mental illness program pro-actively.

Two North Branch officers are on critical incident leave, while the Crabtree call response is investigated by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The findings go to the Washington County Attorney for a determination if any criminal charges are warranted. Both officers were relatively new to law enforcement. Kyle Miller has a year and a half on the force, and utilized pepperball ammunition in subduing the victim. Duane Southworth fired his department rifle. He has two years of experience.

The organization holding last week’s community discussion is titled Communities United Against Police Brutality. It created a mental health working group just for this issue and to work with the legislature. It can be reached at 612-460-0260 or e mail [email protected]