Fort Worth has the tools to make civilian response teams for mental health crises work

When five officers were gunned down in a merciless assault in 2016, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told the nation something it needed to hear.

“We’re asking cops to do too much in this country,” Brown said. “Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. … Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”

More than five years later, we still have much to do to heed Brown’s words. One of the biggest tasks we put upon police, mostly by default, is addressing mental health crises. Our rickety system of diagnosis and treatment means that when someone needs urgent help, police often are the first option for response.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Local cities should shift resources to civilian mental-health intervention teams, at least on a trial basis. My Health My Resources of Tarrant County, the mental health agency, will use a $5 million federal grant, starting next year, to expand its capacity to handle some nonviolent calls referred by 911 dispatchers. It’s an excellent start that will provide a two-year lesson in how to better respond.

It will reduce the danger to those who are struggling. It will free police of the burden of trying to do a task they aren’t meant to tackle. And it allows police and jail resources to be targeted toward fighting crime — an important point amid signs that crime may be rising.

A Star-Telegram investigation found that at least one-third of people killed by police in Dallas-Fort Worth since 2014 were having mental-health issues. Reporter Nichole Manna also details different models in use in other parts of the country, which have reduced violent interactions and targeted needed care to the suffering.

Fort Worth police deserve credit for the steps they’ve taken. Officers trained in mental-health interventions help numerous people, and city and department leaders have worked to improve options for officers responding to someone in crisis, including getting them to treatment rather than jail. When they asked for a 10-year extension of the city’s special anti-crime sales tax, they pledged to continue such work.

Many officers respond to mental-health calls with compassion and patience. But the mere presence a uniformed officer adds tension in some situations. No matter how much training police get, it can’t match the knowledge and experience that a specialized worker can bring to the scene. And in jurisdictions that have tried it, there’s little evidence of added danger from not having an officer present.

Police departments are understandably reluctant to surrender resources. And if the new MHMR program is a success and requires expansion, governments will have to work together to make it happen. But Fort Worth has ample funding for police, thanks to the Crime Control and Prevention District, which levies the additional half-cent in sales tax.

The City Council, which operates the district as its governing board, has time to figure out how much of an investment is merited and how to fund a new operation.

Fort Worth can craft a model that works here, addressing police concerns about situations that escalate. And there will always be some role for police to play, particularly when someone is an obvious danger to others.

In the meantime, we need more information about incidents and responses. Texas’ laws regarding police body cameras give departments too much discretion over when and how to release footage of interactions with those they encounter. The result is that police are quick to show footage that backs up their actions and often able to bury that which doesn’t reflect as well on an officer’s decisions.

A particular problem lawmakers should address is the provision that allows withholding documents or videos in cases in which no one is charged. Often, these are the very cases that need public scrutiny — ones in which no charge is filed because a suspect ends up dead.

Reliable information is necessary to craft policy that reduces police shootings. That’s a goal all can agree on. And civilian intervention teams could be an important step, too.