LAKEPORT— The Lakeport Police Department are on the cusp of transforming how they interact with the homeless population by pivoting from incarceration to treatment and evidence shows that strategy is reaping rewards toward reducing recidivism.
At a Town Hall Meeting in the Soper Reese Theater last week, Chief of Police Brad Rasmussen and Lt. Dale Stoebe convened a Town Hall to brainstorm how best to address the homeless situation. This past winter’s Point in Time Count disclosed about 1,200 homeless individuals in Lake County. But the good news Rasmussen noted the police are gearing up to hire a licensed clinical social worker. “We hope to have a clinician in place in the next month or two,” he said.
“In July 2021, I reached out to Lisa Morrow, executive director of the Lake County Family Resource Center to see if we can have a social worker work at the in-house jail population along with officers.” The aim is get the homeless into treatment, in clinics and off the street and housed. As Rasmussen knowingly said, police cannot arrest their way to a solution.
And Rassmussen provided a proof positive example of successful intervention to thwart a crisis situation. A young female resident who was addicted to methamphetamine had repeatedly wound up in custody over the prior year.
It seemed a hopeless, but Misty Miller, was able to turn her life around thanks to the help from Rasmussen in collaboration with Morrow and enrolled Miller in a 90-day program she successfully graduated from.
“Just six months ago, I couldn’t carry on (a cogent) conversation, “confided Miller to a packed Soper Reese Theater audience. “I was continually on the street, falling asleep anywhere and I was on Methamphetamine. Prior to that I was in and out of hospitals. I tried to get a rehab program- and then I got arrested.”
But after a police officer reached out to Miller and inquired if she wanted to get into a program. “I said yes and the next day they brought me to rehab … I was terrified. But I am moving to transitional housing, getting career training and am happy with the change I’ve made.”
Opening the Town Hall was Michael Moss, prevention specialist at Lake County Behavioral Health Services. He also teaches mental health first aid in county high schools aimed to recognize subtance abuse and abberrant behavior before it becomes unmanageable. “We try to reduce the stigma, break down barriers, seek solutions and help people get the palliative care they need without ridicule,” he said.
As a social worker, Moss tries to maintain humility, yet it is a life-long education. “The homeless have their culture and we must try to understand it,” he said. ” They’re part of our community and we shall build upon that, as it will take everybody in the community.”
Elise Jones is the Lake County Behavioral Health director. She explained to the audience in the early 20th century, there were no laws to protect mentally ill people. “There were no civil rights for the mentally ill but we are concerned about that now,” she said. Care took a stride forward with the Mental Health Study Act of 1955 noted Jones. But it was over a decade later with passage of the Lanterman, Petris, Short Act that took a leap forward. It regulated involuntary civil commitment of patients to a mental health institution in California. The act set a precedent for modern mental health commitment procedures in the U. S. The bill was signed into law in 1967 by Governor Ronald Reagan. It cited seven articles of intent: The first, to end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities, along with six other provisions.
Yet in the 1980s, the President Reagan Administration began to shutter state hospitals and that was in response to numerous state hospital mental health units had become very unpleasant and initially looked like the appropriate course of action noted Jones. Yet recently California has really paid attention to the intersection of homelessness and mental health explained Jones.
“If a person has untreated mental health issues it is obvious you are unhoused it is hard to get well,” Jones said. But plans are underway for a housing project on Collier Ave. by the fall of 2024. There will be staff on site to provide mental health assistance, while persons will move to permanent housing.
Rasmussen then cited Proposition 47, passed in 2014 (Safe Schools and Neighborhood Act) a voter ballot initiative as casting a shadow over effective law enforcement. “The significant thing it did was reduce all drug possession from felony to misdemeanor,” he said. “It was no longer a felony to possess heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.”
Rasmussen hopes legislation can resolve some overcrowding in the criminal justice system. The Mental Health Court is where if an individual is charged but can petition the court, they have a mental illness that was a factor in committing their particular crime. If a judge is persuaded, that offender can complete their sentence in a mental health program. Similar is Competency Proceedings.
A defense attorney can submit his client was not competent at the time of his infraction and be evaluated at a mental institution for 60 days if it was a misdemeanor and up to one year if it was a felony.
Part of the problem is the Police Department is operating at 48% capacity. Rasmussen admits officer retention is a challenge. Some, leave when they can obtain higher pay in other counties. But in fall of 2022 the city council was persuaded to implementing a recruitment bonus for officers staying in Lakeport. And another bonus is paid to officers who entice new recruits themselves.
“We have two officers in police academy, graduating in December,” said Rasmussen. “We got two in field training and another two will return to field work. So, hopefully we’ll have all of them by May.”
