The Greenbelt Police Department (GPD) has begun implementing its new Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) with counselor Rachel Tobin. According to Tobin, “CIT will assist with welfare checks, domestic abuse, geriatric and juvenile issues with behavioral health concerns, victim support, critical incidents, emergency petitions and repeat callers to 911 who are identified with behavioral health concerns.” At the Greenbelt City Council work-session on August 31, Greenbelt Chief Richard Bowers said the CIT will be used to stabilize “the crisis of the moment,” with limited follow-up, after which a referral to the crisis team at Greenbelt CARES is made in order to do any further intervention, such as ongoing individual therapy, said Tobin. In the past two months the CIT has responded to 35 calls of service.
Bowers explained that this is a co-responder model, with the CIT always paired with police officers. This is for safety and allows for officers to deal with any potential criminal side of the call, allowing the CIT to focus on any victim issues. The goal is to divert the situation before a crime is ever committed.
“Follow-ups are a large part of this job, ensuring individuals are linked to appropriate resources,” said Tobin. She characterized the referrals to CARES as “a warm handoff.”
Tobin has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, with six years of experience in the crisis mitigation field and a year with the Health Department.
When asked about any safety concerns, Tobin said “While every call has some level of risk, I feel confident with my previous training and safe with the officers I work with,” adding that the co-responder approach has been, thus far, going well.
At the worksession, Bowers reported that the county has a new crisis intervention vendor in Crisis Mind Now, which can offer assistance any time if needed. GPD would only use the vendor if the city’s CIT was not available. Another community victim service employed by GPD is Community Advocates for Family and Youth (CAFY), which Bowers said handles the area of sex offenses and human trafficking.
Tobin said that the relationship with Crisis Mind Now has been progressing well, and that “we both look forward to collaborating as needed and building a working relationship.”
Councilmember Judith Davis said that there had been some negative responses to the CIT program on Facebook, specifically on the Greenbelt Citizens for Public Safety group page. The criticisms centered on the program’s financial necessity and the possible danger to the team. Davis said that the GPD may need to do further outreach to residents to allay any fears and assure them of the program’s many benefits.
Yet, the entirety of council acknowledged that the overwhelming majority of responses have been positive, with Councilmember Ric Gordon saying that “many are rooting for you.” Mayor Emmett Jordan said that there may be bumps in the road as the city works out the logistics. Councilmember Silke Pope added that it is likely that “the negative will turn to positive” as time goes by.
Bowers asserted that as many officers as possible undergo 40 hours of crisis intervention training, provided by the county. Classes are in demand and fill up quickly, yet GPD tries to get at least three to four officers in at each of the year’s handful of sessions.
Bowers and council related their pride as Greenbelt is the only county municipality to have a CIT. The city was also the first to have a school resource officer – at Eleanor Roosevelt High School.
Considering the overall success so far of the program, Bowers said that the department is now looking to acquire an additional counselor, hopefully before the end of the year. Bowers advised that even though this would be a significant financial cost, its impact to the city over the long term would be worth it. This would enable the city to handle even more calls for service without need of the county team.
“Whenever resources are added, it results in better outcomes,” said Tobin. “It appears that agencies are creating similar teams daily and anytime you can give resources to the community is going to empower them.”