Sean C. Morgan
A local police officer responds to a call and finds a subject who is clearly having mental health issues. What now?
Only a few years ago, law enforcement officers in Linn County dealing with such situations would have responded by putting the subject in jail or sending him or her to a hospital for mental evaluation.
But now officers have another option when a call has a clear mental health component, said Linn County Mental Health Director Frank Moore, discussing a recent case. In that situation, the officer held his ground with the subject until Mandy Torres, a member of the Linn County Mental Health Crisis Services Team, could arrive with another officer and get in front of the subject.
Since July, when a police officer responds to a call involving mental health issues, that officer has been able to call on Torres, who serves as “crisis mobile outreach” to help out during and after the call as residents who need help are able to take advantage of mental health resources.
“I can really kind of identify what are the needs and connect them with resources,” Torres said.
Since last summer, Torres has spent time at each law enforcement agency in the county throughout the week. She works out of Sweet Home Police Department on Mondays.
“It’s nice to have an option or more resources out in east Linn County,” said Sweet Home Police Chief Jeff Lynn. When she is here, she can respond with police officers and reach people who are in the middle of a crisis.
“It takes a load off us too,” Lynn said. She can provide access resources to help them, potentially decreasing the need for calls involving individuals who get help they need.
“I think we’ve had a positive experience,” Lynn said.
Without Torres’ expertise, the best a police officer can do with a subject who may have mental issues, and be a threat to himself or herself or another person, is to take the subject into custody on a “police officer hold” and transport the subject to the hospital for mental evaluation. Police deal with those kinds of calls regularly.
“More and more, we’re first response on mental health calls,” Lynn said.
Torres gives police another option to evaluate a subject and the situation, he said, and they can call on her for situations where a subject is not a threat but still dealing with mental problems.
The coordination helps both kinds of agencies with their missions.
“One of the most important aspects of my role is really about strengthening the relationship between mental health and law enforcement,” Torres said.
If police officers suspect mental illness, they send reports to mental health, some three to six per day in Linn County, where some 22 to 26 percent of the population will have a mental health issue at some point in a year – Moore said. “If you want to know who the real social workers are in the community, it’s law enforcement.”
When mental health officials started working closer with law enforcement five to seven years ago, Moore said, what became apparent to him was the compassion that some law enforcement officers show during risky calls.
But each has its own role, he said.
“A fair amount of law enforcement shouldn’t have anything to do with mental illness, and mental health shouldn’t be anywhere near law enforcement.”
This new program brings together the best in each field with a common goal of getting help to people who need it, Moore said.
“Our responsibility to the community is, first and foremost, to the victim. I’ve looked at CAD reports where we have truly saved lives.”
Professionals like Torres can enter a different culture, including law enforcement, and make a difference, Moore said.
Torres works specific days in different communities, she said, but she’ll respond as needed if she is able. Police will contact her, and if she cannot respond, she’ll do an outreach visit later and connect the subject to Linn County Mental Health and its resources.
“Although hospitalization is at times necessary, depending on the circumstances surrounding the crisis, my role focuses more on diverting crisis cases from going to the hospital and using up additional resources in the community that may not be necessary if they can be handled in the moment,” Torres said. “If it is evident that someone can benefit from a hospital stay or ER evaluation, then of course that route will be chosen; but more often than not I’ve found so far that issues and needs can be addressed on the spot.
“So I primarily just work to connect individuals with the resources that will address immediate needs, or I work to engage them in on-going treatment by assisting them with taking the steps necessary to get established with us.”
Since 1974, mental health has made multiple attempts to get into the law enforcement environment and be seen as a resource, Moore said. The efforts have been broken off or wouldn’t work.
Linn County Mental Health has always had staff in the community, but it’s been separate and parallel to law enforcement, Moore said.
About six or seven years ago, Linn County Mental Health started working with Linn County Sheriff’s Office, providing crisis intervention training, based on a national model to train law enforcement officers working in the community.
Last year, Torres advanced that cooperative effort.
The goal is to grow this program over time and get mental health workers into the field, Moore said. “If we’re in our offices, we’re not doing our jobs.”
“I try to do things quickly,” Torres said. “I’m on law enforcement time.”
She wants to go in and thoroughly assess the subject, she said, but she has to keep the officer’s time and goals in mind.
Torres makes quick assessments of risks in a matter of minutes and reporting those quickly to officers, Moore said. Those assessments mitigate the risks to officers, individuals and the community.
People have responded positively to her presence in crises, Torres said. “For the most part people have been receptive and grateful for that.”
And it’s helped decrease tension during police responses, Torres said.
Torres carries bus passes to give patients a way to reach Albany. Her team operates a 24-hour mental health crisis support through a phone line, (800) 304-7568, and on-site services are available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 445 Third Ave. in Albany. The team can also assist patients in accessing Oregon Health Plan.
“She’s been accepted into law enforcement,” Moore said. “At the field level, they clearly understand what we can do and cannot do, and they see a resource. We don’t have parallel systems any more.”
Mandy Torres grew up in Columbia Falls, Mont., located in the Kalispell area. She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at York College in Nebraska and returned to Montana where she worked at private residential treatment centers and a therapeutic boarding school where she helped students develop life skills and prepare for college.
In 2009, she enrolled in the Leadership Institute in Seattle to earn her master’s degree in psychology and systems counseling in a rigorous experience-based program, and she is a licensed professional counselor.
She moved to Portland with her husband, Jazper Torres, a chiropractor, and spent three years working for Columbia River Mental Health Services in Vancouver, Wash., providing therapy to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.
She left on maternity leave and then went to work for about eight months at Clark County Jail in Vancouver providing crisis intervention and risk assessment to inmates experiencing suicidal crises or struggling with mental health-related issues. She moved to Corvallis and joined the Linn County Crisis Team in July.
She has two daughters, Nyah, 6, and Kyla, 18 months.