4 days Ago
Shreveport Police Lt. Amy Bowman speaks next to Chief Wayne Smith as (seated, left to right) Mayor Tom Arceneaux and CADA director Janet Miller look on. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save About two years into her nearly three decades with the Shreveport Police Department , now-Lt.
Amy Bowman responded to a call she feels she wasn't trained to handle. A man having a mental health crisis was suicidal, and he eventually shot himself. "I spent many sleepless nights wondering how that might have been different if I had more training or if there had been someone else to respond," she said Monday during an event at LSU Health Center in Shreveport.
Bowman became an advocate for a new approach to SPD calls involving mental health , and Monday's signing of an official partnership between the department and the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse brought that to reality. Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith joined Janet Miller, executive director of CADA, in signing paperwork outlining the approach the two agencies have taken to calls where officers discover mental health issues or drug abuse rather than criminal activity. "We ask a lot of our police, but our police are not mental health professionals, and they're not psychologists," Mayor Tom Arceneaux said.
"This is already in effect and is already having a positive impact on our community." Peer counselors and mental health professionals from CADA began to aid first responders in northwest Louisiana in early October. Miller said the response has been strong.
Bowman, an SPD lieutenant in community policing, said CADA's assistance brings experts into situations where citizens don't need to be arrested or given medical assistance. Sometimes, the presence of a uniformed officer increases the anxiety level of those in need. "The last thing they need is the situation to escalate further," Bowman said.
"Unfortunately, when we've been the only ones to respond, that can happen." Her early experience with the suicidal man was followed, eventually, by Bowman's participation in crisis intervention training. She has become an advocate within her agency for the new method of responding to these calls.
Chief Smith called her "our pilot piloting this ship" at Monday's signing. "This is her brainchild, and she deserves a huge amount of credit," Arceneaux said. "We're probably not standing here were it not for Lt.
Bowman." In an October interview , Miller described the new local approach to crisis intervention as having four parts, and CADA handles the first two. Phase one is the mobile response unit, and CADA is responding to calls not only from Shreveport police but will aid first responders throughout Caddo, Bossier, Bienville, Claiborne, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Webster, Red River and Sabine parishes.
The second phase is follow-up with those encountered on the calls, whether through additional meetings, phone calls, e-mails or other means. The next phase will be a walk-in facility able to help those in need at all hours of every day. "Our goal is to stop taking people to an emergency room, because we're waiting there, sometimes, two and three hours," Bowman said.
"The next step is going to be, whether it's voluntary or involuntary, a single point of entry to get people connected to services. That's the next component.".
