Nashville, Tennessee (WKRN) — When Malvina Dye became a police officer in Lebanon, she made history in town as the first black female patrol officer, but the role she’s most proud of in 20 years I came after this.
Known to her colleagues as Ms. Vee, she says she’s now able to patrol with metropolitan police in Nashville and respond to mental health crises as a joint response counselor for the Mental Health Collaborative. .partner in care“program.
“It helps without the handcuffs,” she said. “It was a great blessing in my life.”
Vee said he was studying to get his social work license while working as a police officer, and he found the perfect job because he works to keep people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system. I feel like
“I want and need people to trust who I am and what my heart’s intentions are when I approach them, when I come into contact with them. I want them to know that I have no intention of harming or endangering them.
In August, when a man she had only vaguely known through interactions with people experiencing homelessness around Nashville began threatening to hurt people with knives for wanting to jump over a riverfront railing, she years of experience and training have been put to the test. park.
While the railing wasn’t far from the river, Vee didn’t know if he could swim or how much danger he could be in.
“I told him the tension that he was on the edge of a very dangerous place. I know what you’re going through, it’s a very serious crisis,” she recalled.
Vee says he was able to convince the man to throw the knife into the river, move away from the railing and empty his pockets.
“It’s best to help them exactly where they are,” she said.
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Her team was able to help the man get treatment and he didn’t end up spending time in jail for the incident, she says.
“To give them some life. It takes education. It takes experience,” she said.
The program currently operates in three of eight districts: North, Central and Hermitage. said it will continue to expand to
“We’re growing a new program. We’re building infrastructure and we need unique people to do this unique work,” said program manager Michael Randolph. “I’m looking for a good person with a good heart who does a good job.”
Randolph hopes to find more people like Vee who are sensitive to crisis.
