NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Midtown Hills Precinct is the fifth precinct in Nashville to team up with Mental Health Cooperative clinicians.
At least one officer during the hours of 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. will be riding with a mental health counselor. Dispatch will send that team to mental health emergencies in the area.
Counselor Katelyn Johnson and Metro Police Officer Kim Peralta are part of Partners in Care and worked alongside each other Wednesday.
Both completed several hours of training to learn each of their roles.
"It's very helpful for me to have an officer there just in case they need to put them in handcuffs for me to assess them, or get them to sit down and understand that the situation is serious and I want to help them and they're safe," said Katelyn Johnson.
Partners in Care launched two years ago shortly after the Jacob Griffin case. Griffin's mother called Metro Police to warn them that her son, who had schizophrenia, had a gun and could be a danger. Officers went out to see him. Mental health professionals arrived later after the situation had already escalated. Griffin died during the encounter.
Police say arriving together gets people in need the help they need immediately.
"Just knowing that hey, there's help out there. Unfortunately, not everyone has the resources and with this program they will be to," said Ofc. Kim Peralta.
Since the partnership started, there have been 3,000 interactions. Long-time counselors say the program has saved lives.
"I saw calls that could've gone in an opposite direction and land in a place of hope and treatment and connection to services," said Amy Woerner, Partners in Care training coordinator.
Midtown joins North, Hermitage, Central and South precincts. The plan is to launch the program in Madison, East, and West precincts by the end of 2024.
