Easthampton, Hadley will send clinicians on some police calls

Daily Hampshire Gazette: Easthampton and Hadley will soon launch a program that will send a mental health clinician to respond to some 911 calls, such as those involving mental health crises and substance use.

The program will send staff from the behavioral and mental health organization Clinical & Support Options (CSO) along with police officers to respond to these calls starting sometime this summer.

The pilot program ties in with the city’s ongoing efforts to involve mental health professionals in incidents involving youth and nonviolent calls, Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said.

“The idea is really combining that mental health component with community policing with harm reduction,” she said. “And right now, that’s very, very relevant.”

Easthampton Police Chief Robert Alberti said officers are looking forward to working with CSO on more calls.

“The way I envision this is that we’ll have clinicians on a schedule to go out with our officers, then come out on an on-call basis,” Alberti said. “But on an ideal basis, we want them with us when we respond to these calls.”

The department currently responds to “plenty of mental health calls,” Alberti said, involving “people who aren’t in a good place and need to talk to somebody.”

“This will be an opportunity for, instead of police responding and waiting for CSO, CSO will be with us,” he said, “so they’ll be able to start triaging and start to help right away.”