Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Podcast Episode on Mental Health Crises and How Police Respond

The League of Minnesota Cities podcast, City Speak, has an episode on police response to mental health crisis calls. It is a conversation between Crystal Police Chief Stephanie Revering and Adriana Temali-Smith from the League’s Engagement and Learning department.

In the episode, Chief Revering talks about the increase in the number of mental health crisis calls her department is handling (which is typical statewide), the officers’ training for handling the calls, and de-escalation. She stresses the importance of partnerships and her goals for additional partnerships to better handle these calls for service.

The chief also mentions the amount of time her officers spend on these calls, which is something I hear often from departments around the state. And she illustrates many of her points with stories from calls her officers have handled.

I thank Chief Revering for her time and for allowing the public to learn about this critically important area of police work. She kept it conversational — which is not easy to do when you are sitting across the table from someone you just met, in front of large chrome microphone — and talking about this important and relevant topic.

I also thank Adriana Temali-Smith and her team for recognizing the importance of having this conversation, and for all of the research they did in preparation for recording the episode. The podcast is on our website and can be downloaded.

You can listen to the “Mental Health Crises and How Police Respond” podcast episode here.

Up next: First Amendment Audits

Stay safe,
Rob

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