Marin expands mobile psychiatric crisis team program - Marin Independent Journal

A state grant has allowed Marin County to add a second mobile team to provide psychiatric crisis intervention, and officials might expand the program more if they can find the funding.

Advocates for “defunding” law enforcement agencies have lobbied county supervisors to take money from the Marin County Sheriff’s Office budget and use it to fund additional psychiatric intervention. In response, supervisors reduced the sheriff’s budget by $1.7 million in June. That money plus another $1 million have been reserved for unspecified racial equity initiatives.

The expansion of the mobile crisis team program came up at the supervisors’ meeting on Nov. 17 after the board eliminated 22 vacant county positions. The move is intended to cut a projected $16 million budget deficit in half for fiscal 2021-22.

“We’re going to be coming back to you on Dec. 15 with a update on our process around racial equity initiatives,” County Administrator Matthew Hymel told supervisors.

County mental health staffers met online with police chiefs on Nov. 19 to discuss mobile crisis teams.

Supervisor Damon Connolly elaborated on Hymel’s comments, describing in detail the expansion of the mobile crisis team program.

A one-year grant — $347,000 from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority — helped fund a second team of two mental health clinicians. It will also fund an expansion of the program’s operating hours — from 1 to 9 p.m. six days a week, to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday.

“This is a needed expansion while more is needed and underway,” Connolly said. “Working with our partners, we are exploring the possibility of additional crisis teams, improved geographic coverage and expanded evening coverage.”

“With strong partners at the table, we continue to unpack the central questions of how do we best serve our community in response to a crisis,” Connolly said. “I think we have to stay flexible even on the possibility of looking at how to adjust the budget to meet these evolving needs.”

Dr. Amit Rajparia, medical director for the Marin County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services division, said the mobile crisis team responded to 1,909 service calls between September 2019 and September 2020.

Asked on Tuesday if supervisors have discussed taking more money from the sheriff’s budget to fund such an initiative, Connolly said, “What is being considered is partnerships with law enforcement countywide, not only the sheriff’s office but other police departments in the county.”

Five positions at the sheriff’s department were among the 22 vacant positions cut on Nov. 17. Asked Tuesday if supervisors might eliminate more sheriff’s office positions in March when they are scheduled to approve another $8 million in cuts, Connolly said, “I don’t think we’ve got to that level of specificity.”

“One issue specifically with the sheriff’s office that has been teed up is: Is it going to be possible to close one of the pods at the jail?” Connolly said. “There is ongoing analysis occurring around that right now.”

At the board meeting on Nov. 17, Hymel said, “We are developing a process to bring in a facilitator to talk about long-term strategies to keep the jail population low going forward post-COVID.”

In an interview on Monday, Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle said, “I think all of us in law enforcement support expanding the hours of the mobile crisis unit, but unfortunately it has gotten mixed up in the defund the police. People think that if we enact something like this then we’ll just get the money from police budgets. I don’t think that is a realistic position.”

Doyle said while the teams might be able to respond directly to some calls, “There are other calls where law enforcement is going to have to clear the scene to make sure it’s OK for a mobile crisis worker to respond.”

As for closing a pod at the jail, Doyle said the jail’s population is down now because courts are allowing the early release of inmates during the pandemic. He said it is too early to know if the population will return to normal after the pandemic.

Novato police Chief Matt McCaffrey said he welcomes the opportunity to turn psychiatric crisis response over to mental health professionals.

“Mental illness and homeless response in California for way too long has been put on the shoulders and backs of law enforcement,” McCaffrey said, “and we’re just not equipped for it.”

“There is no doubt that we have underfunded a lot of our social response needs, whether it is homelessness or mental illness or juvenile crime,” he said.

“I don’t think you are ever going to be able to take x number of dollars from any law enforcement agency and fund another program without that law enforcement agency suffering in their ability to respond to what they need to be doing,” McCaffrey added. “It shouldn’t be a matter of defunding something to fund something else.”

San Rafael police Chief Diana Bishop said, “There has been no talk in San Rafael about taking money from the police department budget to fund that.”

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Marin expands mobile psychiatric crisis team program - Marin Independent Journal
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