As many look beyond cops to help people in distress, Winooski police sees uptick in mental health calls

Illustration by Juli Badics.

Since the first wave of COVID-19 hit last March, police and mental health professionals are seeing a spike in mental health related crisis calls.

The Winooski Police Department is no exception — the department is seeing similar trends to other police departments across the country, said Officer Justin Huizenga. The department noted a 25% uptick in mental health-related calls at a recent city meeting.

Huizenga is wary of attributing the cause to one event in particular, although many mental health professionals believe the COVID-19 induced isolation is a leading factor in heightened anxieties.

“I think there’s a lot of factors that go into it and I don’t know if we would be able to pin it on just one or two particular things,” said Huizenga.

Some of this increase can be attributed to the cessation of in-person supports, said Deanna Ryerson, director of crises at the Howard Center. Many folks cannot meet in person with their providers or attend support groups, Ryerson said.

Despite this, Ryerson said the increase in mental-health related crisis calls predates COVID-19, though the isolation has exacerbated the issue.

“Our community has had increasing mental health needs for some time now and in the pandemic, I think it’s just another layer of complexity,” said Ryerson.

Since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May, and subsequent movements protesting police brutality, Vermont and the nation has been in conversations about police involvement in community affairs, especially in situations that may not need a badge and a gun. Some are calling for complete abolition, others for reduced and diverted funding alternatives to police. Some argue the police are not currently equipped to handle mental health crises and lack adequate training that would allow them to respond appropriately.

Officer Huizenga says each officer in the WPD is trained in responding to mental health calls, but there is not a standard protocol for handling these calls.

“One of the first things we do before we get there is assess the call and see if having one of these civilian mental health outreach workers come with us would be beneficial,” said Huizenga.

Many of these decisions are made on a case by case basis. Huizenga says the WPD holds some mental health training, although they don’t typically involve actual mental health professionals.

Anne Donahue is a Vermont State Representative and Vice Chair on the Health Care Committee and identifies as a Psychiatric Survivor. Her agency, “Vermont Psychiatric Survivors” publishes “Counterpoint,” a quarterly newspaper seeking to amplify the stories of psychiatric survivors. They’re working on pushing through several COVID-19 related grants that would reach out to people feeling isolated due to the virus.

Like Ryerson, Donahue believes mental health-related crises have been increasing prior to COVID-19. She’s been in conversations regarding police involvement long before this year and believes there’s a great deal of complexity inherent in the issue.

“Winooski is actually one of the towns that's in a better position than many in terms of having support because they have a street outreach worker program,” said Donahue.

The question becomes not only if police are equipped to handle these calls, she said, but if models that embed mental health workers into the police department create the same fears for people seeking help.

“A mental health clinician who is part of the police department might not engender any more trust than the police themselves,” Donahue said. There are alternative models that involve completely separate responses, often with peer crisis workers, though Donahue says such models are not well developed in Vermont.

Regarding training, there is little statewide standard for mental health training in police departments, Donahue said.

“I think police departments in Vermont vary a lot about how much training their officers get,” said Donahue. “The legislature added some mandatory training 10 or 12 years ago, but the mandatory training is pretty minimal and the degree to which they enhance that is very town specific.”

The Department of Public Safety through the State Police very recently proposed adding more mental health counselors to the Vermont State Police system to help them address mental health emergencies, said state representative Bill Lippert, chair of the House Health Care committee and longtime mental health professional.