AAC F A M I L Y & F R I E N D S Forward
duty under the Arkansas Constitution, Article 19, Section 19 to provide for the treatment of the insane. He educated policy makers about our urgent needs: in-jail services, crisis services and CIT. As a result, the Quorum Courts’ Association of Ar- kansas, County Judges’ Association of Arkansas (CJAA) and the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association (ASA) each have adopted resolu- tions in support of better in-jail services, CIT for law enforce- ment and regional crisis units. At the AAC Conference on August 25, 2016, the governor announced his support for funding for CIT and regional crisis stabilization units in Arkansas. Te governor recognized that CIT is necessary so law enforcement officers can identify the mentally ill. He further noted the importance of regional cri- sis stabilization units so there is a suitable location to take the mentally ill for emergency behavioral health treatment. Te governor underscored the key: currently our law enforcement officers have no other options. All too often the mentally ill end up in our emergency rooms or our jails. Emergency rooms and jails are not equipped and not intended to provide emergency behavioral health or crisis services. Many of you will recall the horrific tragedy in Dallas this summer. Many of you heard the pleas of David Brown, the chief of police for the Dallas Police Department, following the tragic loss of life of five law enforcement officers and injury of two civilians. “Ev- ery societal failure, we put it on the cops to solve … We are asking cops to do too much in this country. Not enough men- tal health funding. Let the cops handle. Not enough drug addiction funding. Let’s give it to the cops… We have a dog problem in our city. Let the cops chase the dogs… Policing was never meant to solve all those problems, help us,” Chief Brown said during his July 11, 2016, news conference. “We are putting our lives on the line.
Do your job. You want us to be Super- man but we are not. We need help,” Chief Brown said to legislators. More mental health funding is a na-
tional issue. If we move forward together, we will get the job done. At the request of state Sen. Jeremy
Hutchinson and Rep. Matthew Shepa- rd, chairs of the Legislative Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force, the AAC hosted on Oct. 4, 2016, the first-in-the- nation Statewide Summit on Mental Health and Criminal Justice Reinvest-
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This chart, found on page 13 of the Council of State Government’s “Justice Rein- vestment in Arkansas” report (found on the AAC website at
http://www.arcounties. org/public/userfiles/CSGSummit.pdf), shows that the number of detainees in our county jails has grown from approximately 5,000 in 2000 to now in excess of 7,600. Seventeen percent of the jail population has serious mental illness and approximately 68 percent has substance abuse disorders (alcohol or drugs).
COUNTY LINES, FALL 2016
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ment. Andrew Barbee, research manager with the Council of State Governments (CSG), presented the CSG’s recommen- dations on a prudent and affordable means to achieve the ur- gent needs in behavioral health services. He also explained other recommendations on justice reinvestment. Other presenters included DHS officials and staff, Arkansas
Department of Corrections and Community Corrections offi- cials and staff, sheriffs, AAC staff, and members of the MHCA. Te summit was attended by more than 30 state legislators and more than 120 representatives from various stakeholder groups, including hospitals and the Arkansas Hospital Association, prosecutors, law enforcement, judges and others. Over the past year, the CSG gathered extensive data from the field, conducted dozens of meetings with stakeholders. As a result, the CSG made recommendations on the affordability of crisis stabilization units through leveraging of Medicaid. CSG also provided information on the ways in which to set up crisis stabilization units. Te CSG report is posted on the AAC website at http://www.
arcounties.org/public/userfiles/CSGSummit.pdf. Te data is compelling. Te number of detainees in our
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