Law enforcement and county officials are becoming more proactive about how to deal with veterans with issues.

 

The county recently issued a card called “Resources for Justice-Involved Veterans” that provides information about where veterans in crisis can get help.

 

The idea stemmed from a meeting a few years ago when the county contacted Mike Mathies of the VA Veterans Justice Programs in St. Cloud about services he could provide in the community.

 

Sherburne County Attorney Kathleen Heaney says the meeting was  cross-discipline, involving law enforcement, probation, veterans services, the courts, public defenders and Health & Human Service (HHS).

 

“Basically, we were  trying to find out what Mathies could do for our veterans as they came through the court system,” she says.

 

The subject came up again earlier this year when the Elk River Police Dept. was trying to deal with veterans after hours.

 

The department wasn’t having any problems during business hours because Eugene Graff, Sherburne County Veterans Service Officer, was always accessible.

 

“We’ve had instances where we’ve had involvement with veterans in crisis and we’ve been able to either bring them directly to Gene’s office or we’ve been able to make referrals or call the VA,” says Capt. Ron Nierenhausen of the Elk River Police Dept.  “It was after business hours and on weekends where we had the most trouble. We were scrambling to try to get them some help. We needed to ramp up accessibility for individuals on the street to get some of these services on the off-hours.”

 

“We’ve had multiple meetings with Mike (Mathies) says Graff, “and through his efforts we came up with the cards.”

 

The cards list phone numbers and email addresses for the county Veterans Service Officer and HHS as well as different contacts at the St. Cloud VA, including Mental Health Triage, after-hours nurse line, Crisis Hotline and a call center for homeless veterans.

 

Along with the cards, members of different law enforcement departments have been going through crisis intervention training (CIT) to learn how to deal with veterans.

Graff says officers are learning more about the mindset of returning veterans.

 

“They don’t always realize what people have gone through during deployments - they don’t stop at STOP signs when they’re going down a road because they can be ambushed. They don’t want to be backed up in traffic or tied down because someone might be attacking them,” he says. “Those defense mechanisms are still there. I think we’ve done a good job of educating Ron’s people that it’s going to take awhile for veterans to get back into civilian mode. I think were making inroads of educating people on law enforcement on what steps to take with our returning veterans.”

 

Nierenhausen says before the training and cards were issued, options were limited.

 

“In the past, before all this training and discussion, if we had someone in crisis it didn’t matter what their background was. We signed a 72-hour hold and they’d go by ambulance down to Mercy Crisis,” he says. “They’d see a psychologist and typically they’d be released and back home. So it was a cycle. “Now when we have contact with somebody, we have the tools to find out if they are a veteran. That will trigger different protocols. There’s help lines. There’s 24-hour emergency lines. They existed before, we just didn’t have them readily accessible for all the officers to give out.”

 

Graff says the new protocols will help all veterans whether or not they have applied for services in the past.

 

“They will never turn down a person in crisis. They don’t worry about the billing or getting him or her enrolled,” he says. “A lot of stuff happens at night when there is a skeleton crew. But they can triage those people and decide what is the best avenue to take. But they will never turn down care.”

 

Heaney says the cards have been given out to anyone who might work with veterans - all county law enforcement agencies, ambulance crews, courts, probation, public defenders, HHS staff and even fire departments.

 

“We’re really trying to step up the ability to access the services on nights and weekends,” she says.

 

Nierenhausen says now officers who come in contact with veterans know more about the type of services available.

 

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll receive special treatment,” he says. “But if an officer sees indicators that they might be dealing with a veteran, we’re giving them the tools to identify them, ask the right questions, and go from there. Ultimately, we get them connected to the people they need to be connected with.”