LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Albany Police Department’s co-responder program can save lives

Dear Editor:

I applaud the visionary “co-responder” pilot program Albany Police Chief Michael Persley has initiated. A partnership between the Albany Police Department and Aspire Behavioral Health is the kind of inspired criminal justice reform that assures our citizens that the police are really here to serve and protect. I especially appreciate Chief Persley’s leadership and collaborative approach.

As a nursing professional, I’ve had extensive experience helping people struggling with domestic violence, mental health and substance abuse issues that impact so many here in Albany, and I know that our new co-responder program is built on successful national models.

Police are often the ones dispatched to emergency mental health calls, but even when officers are trained in de-escalation techniques, the insights and expertise of trained clinicians can save lives.

The new co-responder partnership pairs clinicians from Aspire with police officers to respond to emergent health and substance abuse calls. The response could be a referral to a doctor at Phoebe or Aspire or a detox facility, to a marriage counselor or to police back-up, if needed. The APD officer will be on-site to keep the clinician safe during the evaluation.

I believe that the new program will be successful because it unites an existing, local behavioral health facility with the city’s police department, so very little needs to be added to make it work. If the pilot program is successful, I hope that it will become a permanent model of modern, effective criminal justice reform.

Joyce Barlow, RN

Albany