PARKERSBURG, Va. (WTAP) – Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard is calling for changes to how mental health calls are handled.
he said: In our opinion, this law is outdated. It is necessary to review. ”
According to Woodyard, mental health calls are intended for people who pose an immediate danger to themselves or others. They intend to detain a person, evaluate them, and send them to a mental health facility for involuntary commitment.
“In many cases, getting a petition signed can be an emergency room situation, a family member of the individual signing it, or a law enforcement officer signing it. and after being detained will be evaluated by the local mental health facility, which in our case is Westbrook,” Woodyard explained.
He said anyone can get a petition for anyone and there is currently no law against false swearing.
“Once the person comes in and writes out what they want in a petition affidavit and the mental health commissioner signs it, the person can spend hours without a lawyer or undergoing a mental illness evaluation. You can be detained,” he said.
Mr Woodyard disputes the fact that people can be held for up to two hours without the right to an attorney.
“I believe that individuals who are arrested should immediately have the right to consult an attorney to protect their civil rights during the petition process,” he said.
Woodyard said his department handles about 650 mental health inquiries annually. About 1 to 3 per day.
“…and of those, only 25% are adjudged mentally incompetent and then sent for a three-day, 72-hour evaluation. can be submitted for further evaluation within a maximum of 10 days of viewing.
That means only a quarter of people are unintentionally eligible for mental health facilities.
“Some of what I think leads to that is the fact that every signature that the Mental Health Commission signs, every petition that it signs, we get paid for that signature. “It’s one of the last few areas in the United States to have that system,” said Woodyard.
Departments that are already understaffed will be further strained by mental health issues, Woodyard said.
“It has become completely difficult for us to fulfill any other duties. Answering the round calls is due to deputies being diverted and sent to hospitals for mental health patients. They just sit there and I’m sure they won’t leave,” he said.
The officer’s duties also include transferring mental health patients for involuntary commitments when necessary. Woodyard said mental health professionals should.
“If something goes wrong between point A and point B, we have cops and civilians driving people halfway across the state without the means to treat people in medical or mental emergencies. . .
Woodyard also doesn’t like the nature of people in danger being picked up.
“Having a family member in crisis and having a cruiser parked at home and in the backseat of a car, a cruiser, a police car, etc. makes people uneasy. No. They have medical or mental issues, so that’s one of the things that bothers me…” he said.
Woodyard said his department currently has no other way to pick people up.
He said his department reached out to elected officials.
Woodyard says he’s looking for three main things.
He wants mental health commissioners to be paid on an annual basis, not per petition.
He also wants to eliminate law enforcement on mental health calls, except for pickups. For clarity, according to Woodyard, pickup includes when officers take a person to Westbrook or a hospital for evaluation. Law enforcement agencies usually have to accompany the person until an evaluation is made. Transportation includes taking people to an institution for involuntary commitment. Woodyard says driving to the facility can take him two to three hours.
Finally, he wants mental health assessors to be exempt from civil liability.
Woodyard explained that the evaluator is the only person in the mental health process who is not protected from civil lawsuits. This means that if they give an incorrect rating, they could be sued for it.
“They end up making mistakes on one side or the other to avoid being sued, so sometimes in borderline cases they go ahead and say, ‘I need to go for a three-day evaluation.’ I might say sued. And who wouldn’t?” he said.
Cory Carr, Westbrook’s director of crisis management, said he would be happy to work with Woodyard’s proposed changes if they were enacted at the state level. He said there would be no problem keeping it to .
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