The Cookeville Police Department receiving statewide praise for a new program pairing law enforcement with mental health experts to handle emergency calls.
Community Services Sergeant Charlotte Austin said the Cookeville Community Response Program utilizes a certified mental health specialist and an EMT to respond to calls involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
“I think it’s a step in a direction that law enforcement isn’t used to,” Austin said. “We have typically responded to all sorts of calls including mental health calls and this is allowing professionals who are more trained for those type of calls to respond and allowing officers to get back to more police-rated related matters.”
Austin said the team responded to approximately 364 calls during its first year in 2023. Austin said the program lets experts handle these mental health crisis situations, instead of police officers.
City Manager James Mills said a state agency has identified Cookeville’s success in the program and could offer grant money to expand the program across the state and, potentially, the nation. It is a partnership between the police department, Cookeville Fire Department EMTs, and Volunteer Behavioral Health. Austin said the program
“They see the uniform and they automatically either think, ‘I’m in trouble or I’m going to jail or I’m doing something wrong,’ when in reality they’re just having a crisis,” Austin said. “This allows us to have those people who maybe look a little less threatening than we do to them intervene and offer them services that we can’t really provide them.”
Austin said dispatchers screen calls for weapons or violence before determining if the CCR team can respond alone or if a police officer should secure the scene first. Austin said the department aims to serve a diverse and growing population in Cookeville, which functions as the hub of the Upper Cumberland.
“Yeah, I mean we’re ecstatic to have it,” Austin said. “You know, we don’t always know what to do in those situations and we’re not licensed and and able to make those decisions that that this program can make.”
Austin said Cookeville Police Department officers have undergone crisis intervention team training to help recognize symptoms of a mental health crisis. Austin said the partnership has taught officers to slow down and evaluate the entire situation before deciding on a course of action.
“I think just because it’s it’s offering these people help who might not otherwise have it and it’s allowing police officers to be available for matters that are maybe considered more police related versus just mental health calls,” Charlotte Austin said. “Uh, it’s allowing us to be you know more visible on the roadways and you know doing traffic stops and enforcing laws rather than tying up officers for hours on mental health calls.”
Austin said the program has been well received by officers and citizens alike as its use continues to expand across the state and across the nation.
“We’re really grateful to have it here,” Austin said. “This is only I think one of the few programs in the nation, and so we’re hopeful that it’s a program that stays in place and it’s just been an invaluable kind of tool that we’ve got here at the police department and we’re really thankful for it.”