SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — What started out as a mental health response team “pilot” program seems to be catching on.
The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded Shaker Heights a nearly $400,000 “Community-oriented Policing Services (COPS)” grant to expand the program among its four other partner cities in the original Heights-Hillcrest joint dispatch center.
That way, the wealth gets spread to Cleveland Heights, Richmond Heights, South Euclid and University Heights, who along with Shaker are now part of the larger Chagrin Valley Dispatch (CVD) network.
Since the merger in 2021, their original communications center has remained in the MetroHealth System’s Cleveland Heights Medical Center, located on Severance Circle and now adjacent to the newer Behavioral Health Hospital.
The concept seems simple enough: having a social worker embedded with first responders on what appear to be crisis interventions more than police and ambulance calls.
In applying for the grant earlier this year, “we always intended to include the cities in our dispatch center,” Shaker Heights Mayor David Weiss said Tuesday (Nov. 7).
“Ultimately, when we are fully staffed, we will have a mental health professional in the dispatch center, as well as in the field, with coverage for all five cities.”
Since launching its own pilot program in 2021, Shaker Heights made the job a full-time position just about a year ago, with a licensed social worker and clinician who works with police and firefighters on potential behavioral health calls but responds to the scene on her own.
“The pilot program was highly successful in transforming how we provide policing and mental health services,” Weiss said. “And this grant is a good first step in validating what we’re doing.”
Earlier this year, the pilot program caught the attention of Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, who looked at the numbers and saw an opportunity to “(model) this program to de-escalate situations” on a larger scale.
The city also brought an intern on board this year, and plans to hire more mental health professionals as part of its newly adopted “Framework for a Safe and Just Shaker Heights” agreement with local reform advocates.
But any outside funding remained scarce — at least up until the DOJ took notice.
“We’ve made this approach a priority, both from a policing and a societal standpoint, and we’ve had unanimity on council in support and implementation,” Weiss said.
“We plan to get someone in the regional dispatch center ASAP.”
In addition to wages, the grant will also fund additional equipment and capital needs to “implement crisis intervention teams,” as federal officials described it.
“There have not been too many applications of this nature approved, and we’re very pleased to have been selected for the (DOJ Community Policing Development Program),” Weiss said.
“Additional funds are needed, and we’re applying to other sources as well.”
Read more from the Sun Press.