HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.02.21 Re_ Hiring a licensed Therapist for the Sheriffs Dept and Chico Police Dept
From:George Deeds
To:andrew.coolidge@chicoca.gov;Alex Brown;Scott Huber;Sean Morgan;kami.denlay@chicoca.gov;Kasey
Reynolds;deepika.tandon@chicoca.gov;Connelly, Bill;Lucero, Debra;Ritter, Tami;BOS District 4;Teeter, Doug;
Sabah Muhammad;Lisa Dailey;Kennelly, Scott
Subject:Re: Hiring a licensed Therapist for the Sheriffs Dept and Chico Police Dept
Date:Tuesday, February 2, 2021 4:02:20 PM
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Nevada County Sheriff To Pair Therapists With Deputies On Mental Health Calls – CBS
Sacramento (cbslocal.com)
On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 3:58 PM George Deeds <gdeeds@mail.csuchico.edu> wrote:
Hello Counselors
Congratulations to those of you who had won in the last election
Thank you for your service
For those whodo not know me
my name is George Deeds and I am a Mental Health advocate advocating for those people
with mental illness in our county and my community in Chico
Noone I have met likes to talk about mental illness
(and I have spoked to a whole lot of people in our community)
yet in one way or another we are all affected by the mentally ill on our streets
With all due respect to Scott and his work at behavioral health (Thanks to Scott and his team
for their recent work with the mentally ill on our streets )
I am still interested in changing the paradigm in our community when it comes to
mentalhealth calls
This is why
I saw Mike'spresentation(thought Mike did a great job explaining the reasoning behind the
DA office decision ) about the Stephen Vest shooting at pet boys here in Chico
I knew Stevo I play a lot of guitar to help comfort those who dont have anything on our
streets for quite a few years now
When I saw Mikes presentation a lot of people were at risk and it did fall under the criteria
of a justified shooting
and there is going to be another shooting if nothing changes in our county
I never seen Stevo behave that way and I have seen some others behave this way on a whim
at any given time
Men and Women starting to go off on some tangent or another angry yelling etc etc
although not surprised I was saddened because with the mentally ill anything is possible
So I was watching the CBS news and Nevada County (also the place where Lauras law
Assisted Outpatient Treatment originatedhere in California) mentioned a Pilot program
where the Sheriffs Dept HIRED the Therapist
I have to say when I did advocate for Lauras law here in this county
I met NO RESISTANCE AT ALL
At sometime or other people who have been advocating for the mentally ill (which includes
the Counselors here) that I have spoked to all were for it at one time or another.
Way I see it, Nevada County was on the forefront of Laura's law and now they have changed
the paradigm in their countyto protect their law enforcement and theirmentally ill
WHY CANTWE in this countysince it affectsour community?
I dont have to go over the body count here in Butte County we are all aware of this fact
And we also know that A licensedtherapist is going to have certain insights that our law
enforcement has limited training for Whereas Others who have spent all those years of
college and personalexperience that a ;licensed therapist does have to qualify to help those
who cannot help themselves.
So why not take some community flak offof our law enforcement and help our law
enforcementby hiring trained personnel to assist on calls at the Sheriff's office and the
Chico PD Especially if they are known people with mental health hiccups?
So I am asking that the County Board of Supervisors help get a Trained therapist onto the
Sheriffs Dept and the Chico City council help get a Trained therapist onto the Chico police
Dept to help our law enforcement and our mentally ill maybe avoid more shooting in this
county
We have a state college here where we have people from all over the world attending at one
time or another
Lets be the leaders that we are for surrounding counties
Helping our law enforcement and those who speak to butterflies then fly off the handle and
threaten our community members like we all were sad to see
The covid pandemic proved what us mental advocates were saying the entire time
Lauras law saves money and frees up the families hands to help with loved ones with mental
illness
This Nevada County pilot program may be saving the lives of loved ones like Stephen Vest
and protecting our Law enforcement from the Psychological trauma that goes with shooting
someone who may not have to been shot because trained Therapist personnel were there
tohelp
Thank you
George Deeds