The Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office is making history with how it handles mental health crises.
According to Sheriff Brian Schenck, his office has become the first law enforcement agency in New York where every road patrol deputy will have an iPad to access mental health services with a licensed clinician for those suffering from a mental health crisis. Deputies responding to a crisis can use the iPad to establish a secure video chat between the individual and the clinician.
Schenck is hopeful the program will provide necessary resources to those in need of them while reducing law enforcement transports to hospitals.
Currently, the program is available to Cayuga County residents between 8:00a-midnight with the goal of becoming available 24/7 in the future.
“Thank you to our community partners with Cayuga County Mental Health and Liberty Resources for partnering with us on this important initiative as well as the New York State Office of Mental Health and the Institute for Police, Mental Health & Community Collaboration. Together we are working to ensure that our Deputies are able to bring a mental health response directly to a mental health crisis while working to keep much-needed emergency hospital resources available for other needs and reducing the time our law enforcement members are tied up with these types of calls. I would like to commend Undersheriff Peenstra for spearheading this project and implementing this program.” Sheriff Brian Schenck
“The Mobile Access Program is a great example of utilizing technology to better serve the residents of Cayuga County. The program would not be possible without the collaboration between Cayuga County Mental Health, Liberty Resources, and the Sheriff’s Office. I’m particularly impressed with the Sheriff’s Office commitment to provide an iPad to every deputy,” said Don Kamin, the Director of the Institute for Police, Mental Health & Community Collaboration, the organization that manages the program on behalf of the NYS Office of Mental Health.
“We are very excited to work with our community partners and the sheriff’s department in order to assist with mental health assessments in the field. Being that Cayuga County is a rural county, this will benefit individuals by allowing them the ability to reach mental health resources while simultaneously alleviating barriers. Mental health-related law enforcement calls can now be put into the hands of professionals, allowing them to assess and safety plan. This also decreases any unneeded hospital or ER presentations. We are looking forward to this ongoing work and collaboration. This is another effort by our community agencies and the county to help individuals in our community access mental health resources because we know how the need continues to grow.” Lauren Walsh, Cayuga County, Director of Community Services.
