Santa Barbara sheriff’s program to help mentally ill people could soon end

An experimental program run by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department that helps prevent mentally ill people from hurting themselves or others may have to end soon, even after a successful start.

The program is called Co-Response and was conceived by Cherylynn Lee, the Behavorial Sciences Manager at the department. She is a licensed psychologist who oversees encounters officers have with people with mental health issues in a crisis.

The pilot program, which started in September, pairs a deputy trained in mental health issues and a mental health worker who understands the resources available to people in need.

The pair used to work together once a week, but now the team is on the streets four days a week doing welfare checks and responding to 911 calls.

Deputy James McKarrell and Mobile Crisis Clinician Bradley Crable have responded to approximately 80 emergency calls. They typically arrive first before a patrol unit to de-escalate the situation.

“The team is diverting people from acute hospitalization into lower levels of treatment, and diverting them from the criminal justice system in lower levels of treatment,” Lee said.

Since Crable is a crisis outreach worker, he is able to make a determination if a subject needs to be placed on an involuntary hold, or a 5150. Deputy McKarrell would not be able to make that determination on his own.

Over the life of the program the pair determined 10 people needed to be under a 5150 hold, while convincing others to get treatment voluntarily. When weapons were involved, they were confiscated.

“When someone is on 5150, there is typically an automatic 5 year weapons ban,” said Lee.

Lee said if someone in a mental health crisis does not meet criteria for hospitalization, this team can assist officers to get a gun violence restraining order under new legislation crafted in the wake of the 2014 Isla Vista Massacre.

Despite its success, the program is set to end on March 25 due to staffing issues and lack of identified funding.

Lee hopes to find a way to make the Co-Response program permanent.

Currently, the pilot program only exists in the South County, from Carpinteria to the Gaviota Tunnel, where there is the largest volume of health calls.