The Columbia Police Department is training officers so they’re certified to take people having mental health problems directly to a facility to get help.
That was one of the topics for Chief Michael Kelly when he spoke with the Board of Aldermen Sept. 4 along with getting approval for new hires.
The board approved sending officer Chris Bush to crisis intervention team training at the Jones County Training Complex.
“This is done through the Department of Mental Health, so if we have a person who is having a mental health crisis and we feel they are a danger to themselves or others, these officers who are training to be on the crisis intervention team can take custody of that subject and take that person to a mental health facility called Westlake,” Kelly said. “And they can get that person without the process of going through chancery court and having to get a writ and all those sorts of things. Our officers can do that with probable cause and get that person off the streets.”
The officers are required to have the 40 hours of training to be certified, and Kelly said they’re planning to have one officer per shift do it.
Ward 3 Alderwoman Anna Evans said the training is essential.
“It’s important,” she said. “You don’t have to sell anybody because it’s mental health.
“A lot of people confuse mental health issues with drugs, and it’s not – there’s a big difference. If you have someone trained on every shift that if they pull up on an incident and that person is not on something, they need help, then we are prepared for them.”
Also in Kelly’s report, he said department answered 418 calls in August, and he’s been busy hiring new officers to bring the department to full staff to keep up. There were 12 felony arrests, 34 misdemeanor arrests, 25 accidents and 87 reports.
Among the training sessions approved by the board was TAC Officer training for dispatcher and TAC officer Deanna Expose.
“This is required by the state,” Kelly said. “They provide the class at no cost to the department, but we are responsible for housing and meals. The class is set for Sept. 27-28.”
The department also had several transfers from part-time patrol to full-time patrol, Jerrod Newson a certified patrol officer, Katie Lawrence had been slated to go from dispatch to patrol, but will remain in dispatch. Mary Alice Wilson will go from full-time dispatcher to part-time as she has accepted a full-time position closer to her home. The city also accepted the resignation of Kevin Wehmeyer, who left to go out of state. The Board also approved the hiring of patrol officer Vanessa Tullis, who was sworn in Monday and began training at CPD. She is non-certified and will be sent to the academy soon. The board also approved the hiring of full-time certified dispatcher Tracey D. Whitehead and part-time non-certified dispatcher Tonya Stuart.
The board also approved removing several old model radios that were pulled from patrol cars from the city’s inventory so they could be used as trade-ins for new radios.
The next regular meeting of the Columbia Board of Aldermen is set for 4 p.m. Sept. 18 in the boardroom at City Hall.
Pictured Above: Sgt. Adrien Fortenberry has a new patrol officer on his shift, Vanessa Tullis, who was hired last week and sworn in on Monday.
