RESOURCES:
Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH)
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: This is 89.1 WEMU. I'm Caroline MacGregor. Today, I'm going to be talking about a recent situation in Ypsilanti that has since received quite a bit of community pushback. On January 4th, when Ruben Peeler threatened officers with a sword, Ypsillanti Police decided to set up a perimeter. And that's when they then called for assistance. They reached out to the Washtenaw Sheriff's Office. This is when Metro SWAT crisis negotiation teams were called in. It's important to note, too, that there were three calls made in the week prior to the actual event. And the Ypsilanti Police Department responded to all three of these calls. Now with me today is Trish Cortes. She's executive director of Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. And she's here today to clarify a few things on the part of the organization. First of all, Trish, welcome! And thank you so much for being here today!
Trish Cortes: Well, thank you so much for having me.
Caroline MacGregor: Tell me why you put out a statement on January 8th informing the public Community Mental Health had not been involved prior to this event.
Trish Cortes: We thought it was important to get a statement out, so that the community had a better picture and clarifying picture about what kind of mental health response we do here at Washtenaw County Community Mental Health.
Caroline MacGregor: Now, in the statement, you said that WCCMH was not contacted by the individual involved in the standoff, his family or law enforcement, prior to the actual incident on January 4th. When did you become aware of what was going on?
Trish Cortes: We were made aware of the situation that was going on once law enforcement had requested for the crisis negotiation team to be called out to the gentleman's residence.
Caroline MacGregor: I want to touch on what the responsibilities of Washtenaw County Community Mental Health are. But are you saying that you should have been called prior to the standoff?
Trish Cortes: Well, I think what I would say is that there is definitely some potential of missed opportunity prior to the crisis negotiation team being deployed. At CMH, we have a robust, unarmed mental health crisis response team that is mobile. Just to give you some numbers. We do about 7,500 crisis response a year, so we average about 625 crisis response per month. And that is unarmed when we are being called by community members, law enforcement, family members, et cetera, to respond to a mental health crisis. And that typically is coming through our crisis line. Of those unarmed responses, I think it was also important for the community to know that 88% of the time that we do crisis response, we do it without law enforcement. It is just mental health professionals responding to a scene at the request of a community member, family member, et cetera. The bulk of what we do at CMH is unarmed mental health response.
Caroline MacGregor: How do you think police should have handled it differently with regards to your organization? Do you always expect to have contact with the individuals prior to law enforcement requests to step in? Because that is part of why you put out the statement saying that you didn't. Is it always the case that you would have contact with a family or individual prior to a request for assistance from law enforcement?
Trish Cortes: Well, typically, what the crisis response team can do before sending out crisis negotiation team and reaching at that level is that we have the ability to look into our records to know whether maybe we've had contact with this individual before. And if so, what was the nature of that contact and how was it resolved and what did we learn from it? So, I think that if we can get called at the earliest possible moment when there's an individual in the community who appears to be experiencing a mental health crisis, we potentially have some information about that individual and about that situation and may have some insight into how to best resolve it in the most least restrictive and safest manner possible.
Caroline MacGregor: With crisis negotiation team calls for service, in relation to this situation, was this unique? Have you been called out to crisis response situations before without having had prior contact with individuals or the family in question?
Trish Cortes: Yes, yes. This is not unique that this is that CNT is the first point where we have been involved. I think what's unique about this particular situation is that there were multiple contacts with this individual and that that perhaps was a missed opportunity to get involved earlier. That being said, we can't necessarily say that there would be absolutely a different outcome. But there could have been an opportunity in those previous contexts leading up to the day of the event. And sometimes, we feel like that there's just an assumption that we only respond to situations when there's law enforcement involved and thought that it was very important for the community to know that there is a mental health crisis response 24-7, 365 days a year here in Washtenaw County, and that it is utilized frequently. In this case, it was not utilized up until the time that the crisis negotiation team came out. And I think that, rightfully so, the community asked questions of where was any opportunity of a prior response. And so, our statement is to make sure the community knows that we have a whole array of response and the bulk of it is way prior to a community negotiation deployment.
Caroline MacGregor: As you are well aware, there's been tremendous pushback in the community from all sorts of sources. I know commissioners have since called for charges to be dropped against the individual in question. But the timing of your release, I have to ask the question. This release could have come out for other incidents. Why this one?
Trish Cortes: I think that, for this particular situation, because it was being questioned by the community of what response could have happened, we felt that it was important to put a statement out that outlines the role of mental health in these situations.
Caroline MacGregor: To help the public understand the exact function of Washtenaw Community Mental Health and how you do respond in crisis, do you mind outlining the services you offer?
Trish Cortes: So, we have the unarmed mobile mental health crisis response, which is the bulk of the work that we do. When a community member calls 911, that 911 call will get dispatched to the jurisdiction in which the event is happening with that law enforcement entity. We rely on law enforcement to then call our crisis team to meet them out at the scene if they believe that there is a mental health crisis involved. So, when 911 is called, that automatically goes to law enforcement, who then calls CMH to meet them out at the scene. So, that would be kind of the next level of response. We also have here, in Washtenaw County, two crisis response units, which has been an effort between the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office and Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, where we have paired a specialized sheriff deputy with a specialized mental health professional. And we call these crisis response unit "crew units". And they are the ones that then get deployed where there is a situation where there might be higher risk that needs really kind of a law enforcement officer, who is very well-trained in deescalation techniques, along with a mental health professional who also has been trained to kind of respond in these higher risk situations. And in those situations, the beauty of the crew teams is the mental health professionals got the access of any potential contacts that we may have had with that individual in the past. So, we have a lot more information going to the situation, as well as law enforcement has information from their databases of whether there are actual registered firearms in the home, etc. So, the crew unit is our kind of our next level of where we would deploy into higher risk situations. When it comes to the crisis negotiation team, that is initiated by law enforcement. And at that point, we are part of that team to provide consultation around mental health conditions and expertise. So, we thought that it was important to know that when we're deployed and how we're employed and that that really is a continuum that we do here at CMH.
Caroline MacGregor: I see. Immediately following the standoff, Washtenaw County Metro Dispatch also put out a statement trying to clarify their role in situations where there's a mental health crisis. They stated the following: "At no point was there a delay or failure by Metro Dispatch in receiving, processing or dispatching these calls." As Washtenaw County Community Mental Health publicly stated on January 8th: "When individuals call 911 for a mental-health crisis, the call is received by dispatch routed to local law enforcement and law enforcement is encouraged to reach out to WCCMH mental health professionals to coordinate a response." There was obviously concern that there was all this breakdown of communications, so they're stating that it's not the role of the 911 operator to know whether there's a need for mental health services on hand. That's the call of the officer to you guys. What can be done in the future, moving forward to stave off some of the problems that we've seen with this particular incident?
Trish Cortes: Well, there has been historic conversations and continuous conversations about how we can closer embed mental health professionals at the point of dispatch. Is there a mechanism in which a dispatcher can safely deploy Community Mental Health versus law enforcement? That is a goal that has been discussed in our community. We are not quite there yet, but that is something that is a goal in the future.
Caroline MacGregor: I know that in speaking with Ypsilanti Police Chief Tim Anderson, he did say that there's definitely room to reflect on how to better recognize a mental health situation before law enforcement has to get involved.
Trish Cortes: Oh, I think that continuing to work with our local law enforcement agencies on helping train their law enforcement officers in the resources here at CMH and how we can port and assist Washtenaw County residents who are experiencing a mental health crisis and lead to the best outcomes and safest outcomes for those individuals and the community.
Caroline MacGregor: I've been speaking with Trish Cortes. She's the executive director of Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. Thank you for joining me today!
Trish Cortes: Thank you so much! It's been a pleasure!
Caroline MacGregor: This is 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.
Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. Make your donation to WEMU today to keep your community NPR station thriving.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on X (Twitter)
Contact WEMU News at 734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org
