TEXAS — Mounting numbers of incidents involving excessive use of force during arrests sparked new crisis intervention units at law enforcement agencies, both nationwide and here in Texas in the years since 2020. Spectrum News looked at whether those efforts improved their approach to handling mental health calls over the last six years.
For Lt. Jerome Ellis with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office in Richmond, just southwest of Houston, responding to mental health calls is personal.
“My mother experiences mental illness. My daughter experiences mental illness,” said Ellis, who oversees the agency’s Crisis Intervention Team, which was launched in 2012. “The need was very evident, because of the community outcry. There were incidents nationally.”
The outcry called for a different approach to prevent mental health crisis situations from escalating. Fort Bend’s unit was founded well before the post-COVID era push for cities across the country to address arrests and excessive use of force in mental illness cases.
“We want to make sure that they’ve been in, not just lecture style training, but something that’s even scenario based, so that they understand what it feels like to be in certain circumstances before they go into it,” Ellis said. “We understand the history of what we wear. We’re not going to try to escape that.”
Now, he says they have a team of 16 deputies and four sergeants who work around the clock, partnering with local mental health authority Texana and Fort Bend County Behavioral Health Services, with counselors riding along weekly.
“We’ve only used force twice in five years,” said Ellis, regarding his CIT unit.
Isidro Torres, the interim executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Texas, said Fort Bend’s diversion rate of preventing those in crisis from going to jail in fiscal year 2025 is 99.1%.
“We are seeing some successes there and across the state. Obviously, there is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute estimates over 34% of the Texas inmate population has a mental health disorder. Senate Bill 26, passed in 2023, requires Texas agencies report their progress going forward.
“One of the biggest challenges is the lack of beds and doctors in the region. Sick people don’t belong in jail,” said Ellis.
They’re collaborating with other agencies for solutions and as the Fort Bend “go-too” for crisis intervention.
“We spell ours ‘Go T-o-o.’ If you need somebody to walk with you, we’re going to,” he said.