We demand a great deal of our police officers — who face a variety of dangers daily in efforts to protect and serve our
community.

We ask our officers to do far more than respond to any number of criminal and public safety complaints, including attending to mental health crises.

While some may say it is a responsibility that comes with the territory, such situations often require a vast array of skills and training that are beyond what can reasonably be expected of a police officer.

For the past two years, the Utica Police Department and The Neighborhood Center of Utica have worked together on an in-person, dispatched partnership that has shown real progress, according to Neighborhood Center officials.

“We’ve had some really strong success cases, especially with clients that were frequently in crisis,” said Kristin Sauerbier, program director for the Mobile Crisis Assessment Team (MCAT) at the Neighborhood Center.

MCAT is a 24/7 mobile crisis response unit that serves six counties, including Oneida and Herkimer counties. For many in need, it has proven to be a lifesaver in desperate times. Sauerbier said the unit has long worked with the Utica Police Department, and other area agencies, and she would have monthly meetings with a Utica police lieutenant to keep both agencies up-to-date on services.

In 2020, Sauerbier said she and a lieutenant from the UPD discussed an idea to embed a crisis counselor at the Utica Police station, and team them with a specifically trained Utica police officer. This Crisis Response Team launched in April 2021. The pair take a three-pronged approach: responding to real-time crisis events that come in through dispatch; outreach to the community about mental health services; and reaching out to individuals who they know need help.

The results have positive, bringing appropriate services from trained professionals as quickly as possible while also permitting police to allocate personnel, who otherwise may have been dispatched to the mental health crisis, to other areas or situations.

The program has proven to be so successful that a new federal grant will help both agencies expand the program, and bring this partnership to the Herkimer Police Department and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.

It is our hope that those efforts won’t stop there. This proactive program lends itself to being replicated in most communities across the region or tailored or tweaked, where necessary, to meet whatever unique needs may arise in various jurisdictions.

Since the launch, Sauerbier said her agency has seen an “exponential” increase in self-referrals. Before this partnership, most referrals would come from other law enforcement or medical agencies. Now, she said people are taking it upon themselves to seek help, usually after hearing about the work through word-of-mouth.

“The fact that folks are reaching out shows that they trust the program,” she stated.

Such partnerships also demonstrate that the trust we place in such organizations is merited. We applaud the UPD and The Neighborhood Center.

While the need for these services has grown remarkably in recent years, it is heartening to know that these agencies, and others, are seeking to build bridges and come together to address community needs.

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If you are in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment, you can call the national hotline at 988 to talk to a local call center.

The Neighborhood Center in Utica can also be reached 24/7 with a live operator at 315-732-6228.