MENTAL HEALTH EXPERTS CMPD: City leaders to approve $3.5M contract allowing mental health experts to ride along with CMPD | WSOC-TV - WSOC Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will soon have mental health experts respond to calls with them to ease tense situations.
City council members will vote on spending $3.5 million for a five-year contract with mental health counselors at a meeting Monday evening.
Channel 9's Mark Barber learned the idea stemmed from a police foundation report that analyzed CMPD's response to the fallout from the Keith Scott shooting in 2016.
Charlotte erupted after Scott was shot and killed by police. City leaders believe having mental health clinicians first on scene could help prevent situations like that before they escalate.
Scott's family said he suffered from a traumatic brain injury, and many of the people officers encounter every day deal with mental health issues.
Last April, the city of Charlotte found police acted negligently when they shot and killed Spencer Mims, a mentally ill man.
The case cost Charlotte taxpayers more than $280,000.
Channel 9 first reported that CMPD was considering riding along with mental health specialists last summer after police Chief Kerr Putney said the budget would allow six of the clinicians to work with the force.
The city has now decided it wants to work with a company called Matrix Mental Health Alliance and is expected to approve the contract at Monday's meeting.
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