St. Albans voters asked to fund 2nd police crisis worker

Voters will be asked to approve and fund a second position.  This is a result of the embedded NCSS mental health clinician in the St. Albans Police Department (SAPD).

Statements about and quotes from Sam Weber appear throughout the article.  The SAPD and NCSS community partnership working towards positive outcomes.  

Excerpts from article:

St. Albans Police Chief Maurice Lamothe recalled a challenging situation last year when his officers were called to help a local rescue service bring a person to the hospital: The person was experiencing a mental health emergency and didn’t want to get into the ambulance — in part because uniformed officials were there and asking him to.

That changed after Sam Weber showed up. The Northwestern Counseling and Support Services clinician, who has been embedded in the police department since last January, spoke with the patient and helped calm him down, Lamothe said. After about half an hour, he got into the ambulance without being touched by a first responder.

The rescue service called Lamothe afterward, he said, and told him: “‘Hey, just want you to know there was no way this was happening if she wasn’t there.’”

Weber responds to 10 to 20 calls a week alongside St. Albans police officers, she said, many of which are mental health emergencies or domestic situations. She does not wear a police uniform, though she dons a bulletproof vest under her clothes for safety.

City officials and residents who advise the city’s police department say Weber’s position has been a success, and now they want a second person to take on the work.

Weber works from roughly 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Thursday. Lamothe said ideally her new colleague would work a non-overlapping shift in order to give the department as much access to their services as possible.

One benefit of having a Northwestern Counseling and Support Services clinician on scene is that people can get directly connected to the mental health care they need, the chief said. Weber also has helped give some people enough support, Lamothe said, that they don’t feel a need to call the police as often.

On the days Weber doesn’t work, she said officers still refer people to her, and she follows up with them when she’s back. But she said it’s far more effective to get people connected to resources when they need help most — often, when they call 911.

“By the time I might be calling them on a Monday morning about something that happened the previous week, a lot of times they’re less likely to respond or to take me up on any offers of any sort of assistance,” Weber said. Read more…

Link to entire article:https://vtdigger.org/2022/02/18/st-albans-voters-asked-to-fund-2nd-police-crisis-worker/?utm_source=VTDigger+Subscribers+and+Donors&utm_campaign=25d36d03ba-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_02_19_02_46&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dc3c5486db-25d36d03ba-405546437