[ti:Video Calls Help Officers Deal with Mental Health Crises] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Americans have been calling on police [00:03.64]to change how they deal with citizens in crises, [00:08.80]especially those with mental health problems. [00:14.44]Police are usually the first to arrive at a serious incident [00:20.64]and are trained to deal with crime and violent behavior. [00:27.24]But a law enforcement agency in the central state of Illinois [00:33.68]has found a new way to deal with mental health cases. [00:40.16]It is using video calls to calm difficult situations. [00:47.36]Restrictions ordered to stop the spread of the new coronavirus [00:53.56]have left many people alone in their homes without support. [01:00.28]Many people are unable to find mental health services [01:06.44]or unwilling to go out and risk getting COVID-19. [01:13.40]The Cook County sheriff's office has faced many emergency [01:18.84]calls about suicide or other mental health crises recently. [01:26.16]Sheriff Tom Dart leads the Cook County sheriff's office. [01:32.76]In the United States, a sheriff is a law enforcement officer [01:39.00]who serves parts of a state that are not part of a city or town. [01:46.64]Emergency calls to Dart's office involving mental health problems [01:53.24]have increased by 60 percent this year. [01:57.44]Dart said police officers are being asked more and more [02:03.96]to arrive first to mental health cases. [02:08.88]He said officers are being asked to do things [02:13.08]they are not trained for or for which they have little training. [02:19.64]Dart said some programs have mental health professionals [02:25.04]riding in a vehicle with law enforcement officers. [02:31.32]That works for smaller communities. [02:35.16]But Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago, is very big. [02:42.72]Dart asked, "How many ambulances would we have to buy [02:48.20]and how many would we have to hire to man them all?" [02:53.88]"We wanted a tool for the officers [02:57.16]to get that mental health expert on the scene immediately," [03:02.40]said Elli Petaque-Montgomery, a team director. [03:08.56]So far, the department has 70 personal electronic devices. [03:16.08]They are used to make video calls. [03:19.60]The department bought 35 with aid money when the program began. [03:27.40]It bought 35 more when it became clear the number of calls, [03:33.56]which is now past 50, would increase. [03:38.88]Sometimes a lack of wireless service or another reason [03:44.48]has not permitted a video call. [03:48.68]The department said this has happened 20 times. [03:54.16]In those cases, officers set up a telephone call [03:59.20]between the person in crisis and a mental health professional. [04:05.80]Four mental health experts [04:08.44]have been joined by four more to answer calls. [04:13.28]Dart said the cost of the experts and the devices [04:18.32]is much less than what it would cost [04:22.12]to send out many mental health professionals with police. [04:28.16]But, such a program cannot work [04:31.36]unless police officers are ready to accept it. [04:36.48]Bonnie Busching is an officer with the sheriff's office. [04:42.28]She answered a call in which a man [04:45.44]was striking his head on the ground to harm himself. [04:50.56]When the man began threatening to use a knife, [04:54.88]Busching sent an officer to bring the device for a video call. [05:01.76]She watched the man immediately calm down [05:05.44]when he began talking to the woman on the other end. [05:11.56]"People spend a lot of time on electronic devices, [05:17.64]they're comfortable with them [05:20.04]and they feel safer talking face to face with a person," [05:25.12]said Petaque-Montgomery, [05:27.60]who was on the other end of the call. [05:31.88]She said that by handing the man the device, [05:36.36]Busching showed a level of trust. [05:40.28]For Busching, questions about the device [05:44.00]and concerns of what could happen [05:46.84]if she forcibly restricted the man [05:50.20]disappeared when the situation ended quietly. [05:55.96]"He gave me his hand and walked [05:58.44]to the ambulance with me," she said. [06:02.08]I'm Gregory Stachel. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM