In this Friday, Aug. 13, 2021, photo Sheriff's Police Sgt. Bonnie Busching tests a virtual meeting with a tablet at the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Chicago. The Cook County Sheriff's Office has started putting people having a crisis face to face with mental health professionals before they lash out at deputies or try to harm themselves and to do it they're taking a page out of countless businesses forced hold their meeting virtually.
Police are still most often the first called to the scene, and the sheriff's department'sStarted two years ago, the effort was designed to help the sheriff's department's 300-member police force deal with a skyrocketing number of drug overdose calls during a national opioid crisis. “How many ambulances would we have to buy and how many would we have to hire to man them all?” Dart asked“We wanted a tool for the officers to get that mental health expert on the scene immediately,” said Elli Petaque-Montgomery, the team director.
“We're not asking anyone to work an 8-hour shift, but we're just asking them to be available," said Dart, whose office announced last week that one suburb, Oak Lawn, has joined the program. The hope is others will follow.
Gotham aka NYC... has most of all the crazies in America, just saying!