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Aurora police get first on-staff therapist to help with emergency situations

Aurora Police already works with mental health professionals but say having someone with them as they respond will provide help to those in need much more quickly.
Credit: Rodriguez, Jacob

KUSA — A strong partnership between law enforcement and mental health professionals is changing the way the Aurora Police Department handles emergency situations.

Over the past six months, officers and mental health professionals have teamed up to form a crisis response team with the aim of being better prepared when responding to calls that require mental health help.

“We noticed when we got called out on SWAT calls we were going on the same people over and over again with no follow up,” Aurora Police Department Officer Judy Lutkin said.

Instead of responding to these incident alone, officers now have a mental health expert on staff seven days a week to ride along and help connect callers with the right resources. Aurora Police Clinician Courtney Tran jumped at the chance to be the department's first on-staff therapist.

"Most therapists don't go into therapy thinking they would have to wear a bulletproof vest," Tran said. "Making sure I can calm them down and get them to a place where they're de-escalated to get them the resources they need."

Tran works to get people the help they need and hopefully prevent a potential emergency room visit. She also follows up with those callers at a later time.

"We can take them to our walk-in clinic which is open 24 hours a day with therapists there to talk to," Tran said.

Tran also connects people to resources to help with food and financial stress. She said the department isn't just responding to situations involving a suspect, but to anyone who needs help.

Aurora Police already works with mental health professionals but said having someone with them as they respond will provide help to those in need much more quickly.

"If we can bring in someone who has more training than I do and more education than I do in this type of intervention - anything we can do to keep the community safe, our officers safe, and the individual safe," Aurora Police Sgt. John Wilton said.

Wilton's history in Aurora goes back more than 16 years. He will regularly have a trained mental health professional ride along and respond to calls ranging from welfare checks to families getting evicted to possible standoffs with police.

The department is studying similar programs to those in place in Seattle and Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Department of Human Services gave money to a total of 12 cities. Four communities, including Denver and Longmont, are receiving money to help officers route low-level drug and prostitution offenses to case managers instead of the criminal justice system. Then, case managers will connect them to resources like housing, substance abuse treatment and work training.

Another eight cities, again including Denver and Longmont, also received funding to form a similar partnership to what Aurora is pursuing.

Aurora got started thanks to a grant from the Department of Justice for around $280,000.

For now, Aurora Police will have a team out for 12-hour shifts seven days a week. They hope to expand in the future. Once the grant runs out, Aurora Police hope the city will want to keep it going.

"Almost any call we could use Courtney on," Wilton said. "Knowing she's there is very reassuring."

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