Ep. 32 Joining me is Officer Stacy Roark who has been in law enforcement for 30 years. He is currently with the Spokane Police Dept. in the Behavioral Health Unit which uses a co-deployed model for responding to persons in mental crisis. Officer Roark rides with a mental health professional (MHP), Jenny Mandin from Frontier Behavioral Health. We talk about the calls they respond to and how they get people the help they need with the goal of keeping them out of jail or the hospital. 

I’ve previously discussed the co-responder model on the podcast in which officers call for a clinician to come to the scene, but this is the first time I’ve discussed the co-deployed approach in which the officer and clinician ride together. I have made it a point to cover these response models to show the lengths to which law enforcement goes to help persons in mental crisis.

We also discuss Officer Roark’s work as a negotiator for the department dealing with barricaded individuals, hostage situations, suicidal subjects and more. Officer Roark shares what it’s like to witness persons who complete suicide as well as the importance of remembering the “wins” when he and his fellow negotiators are able to succeed in keeping people from harming themselves or others. We discuss the current environment for LE and his work supporting officer wellness. And we take a look back at why he became a police officer, the rewards of the job, and how it was not at all what he thought it was going to be. 

In my next episode, mental health professional Jenny Mandin will join us to talk more about their work together in the Spokane PD's Behavioral Health Unit.

Thanks for listening.

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©Abby Ellsworth. All interviews, editing, production done by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org