County joins initiative to address mentally ill

June 01--WATERLOO -- Black Hawk County is joining a national effort to reduce the number of mentally ill persons in jails.

Members of the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to join the Data-Driven Justice Initiative the White House is coordinating to address the issue.

Local officials who participated in a national summit in Washington, D.C., this spring said the plan is to share information among local law enforcement and mental health professionals while also collecting data to help shape national policies.

Tom Eachus, executive director of UnityPoint/Black Hawk-Grundy Mental Health Center, said the county's involvement will not cost anything but could help secure federal grant dollars to implement changes in the system.

"This has got the national spotlight right now," Eachus said. "This probably gets us a seat at the table earlier than some others."

Sara Carter, community treatment coordinator for the Department of Correctional Services, will serve as the point of contact between the county and the White House.

The initiative is designed to address two key populations: low-risk mentally ill persons held in jails only because they can't afford bond, and chronically homeless and mentally ill persons repeatedly cycling through jails, emergency rooms, shelters and other services at large taxpayer expense.

Carter cited a report from San Diego where 28 "super-utilizers" were responsible for $3.5 million in services.

Eachus said a "real-time" data exchange locally could allow a police officer to divert someone with mental illness to the proper care before they're arrested and put in the criminal justice system.

Supervisor John Miller has been working with local criminal justice and social services leaders in the Stepping Up program, which is searching for better ways to address crisis levels of mentally ill persons in jails or without a proper home.

He said identifying those in need of assistance is just the first part of the challenge. The second is securing resources and beds in a currently underfunded mental health care system.

"Once we have folks that are chronically mentally ill or severely mentally ill we don't have a place to put them," he said.

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