911: Community discussion on mental health crisis response system can't come soon enough
"Failure to address this societal issue...requires police professionals provide a service they are ill-prepared or trained to perform." - Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney
A year ago City Council announced it was forming a mental health crisis response task force to explore different ways to respond to mental health crises. Tomorrow, September 28, the City will finally be holding a community discussion on the issue.
For years, police have handled mental health emergency calls, identified as Assist Citizen (TDO/ECO) calls, when someone is reported to be having a mental health crisis. Late last year, Virginia passed the Marcus David-Peters Act, named after Marcus David-Peters, a high school biology teacher who was killed by a police officer in Richmond while experiencing a behavioral health crisis in 2018. The new law directs localities throughout the Commonwealth to "develop and establish a mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system." Several communities across Virginia have alr…
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