Lehigh County Commissioners discussed the merits of the Community Intervention Program, and its benefits to police forces in the county during their July 12 meeting.

Resolution 2023-30: Approving a Professional Services Agreement with Pinebrook Family Answers provides for the hiring of three additional Community Interventionist Specialist for the Police Department Mental Health Liaison Program. Terms are from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026.

“This contract represents a step toward the commitment that we have made to address mental health in our community, that leads to treatment instead of incarceration,” explained Commissioner Dave Harrington to the board.

“We got a chance to have a pilot study done on this with just one individual acting as a sort of a liaison between the services of mental health crisis and when someone makes a call to the police with someone acting erratic or something like that, and it was successful enough that we are now moving it into three individuals who are going to be circulating between the different police departments throughout the county.”

Harrington made the point that the police departments are asking for this additional help. “This is something that is going to be utilized in our community,” added Harrington.

Commissioner Ron Elbich added that in the first pilot program, “The community interventional specialist dealt with 205 clients. Out of those 205 clients, 202 were redirected away from going to jail, being incarcerated, to direct health and support through the mental health system.”

“That’s absolutely phenomenal. This is going to be a tremendous program. It’s going to provide outreach into the community to get folks where they should be treated instead of going to jail. They will be treated by mental health resources from the county, and hopefully get them to a place where they are constructive members of the community again,” he concluded.