The Portland Police Department plans to expand its mental health crisis response options after winning a $184,900 grant to fund a mental health coordinator position for two years.
The Department of Justice grant will pay for a full-time coordinator, who will oversee four interns, people who are studying to become licensed clinical social workers or licensed clinical professional counselors.
The coordinator also will gather data on the extent to which people with mental illness place demands on police resources. The department said the coordinator will also develop a program for identifying community services to reduce the frequency with which some people come in contact with police.
Portland was the first department in the state to train officers as part of a Crisis Intervention Team. The police department employs, with help from the social service agency Ingraham, a full-time mental health liaison whom officers can call to help with people who are in mental health crisis.
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