![]() (From left to right) Delco District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, U.S. “It’s a huge tool for us to be able to have mental health specialists that are going to be assisting us in dealing with these mental health situations. The 69th Street area, in particular, is a major source of those incidents, Bernhardt said. And because of that, police superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said that the department responds to the most mental health calls. Upper Darby Township is by far the largest municipality in Delco. So having experts come in to help us frees us up to do other work, but moves us away from that situation, which really, really calms things down,” Viola said. “When an officer arrives at a scene and a person’s in crisis, sometimes a uniform makes it worse, just because people are afraid, or whatever is going on with them. Haverford Township Police Chief John Viola says that having mental health experts available will free up officers to do other necessary work. It would also serve another purpose, according to Haverford Township Police Chief John Viola - lessening the burden on law enforcement officers who are not equipped to handle such situations. After arriving on the scene with officers, this project would divert people into treatment, “with a prioritized admission.” Once established, the mobile crisis teams would be stationed at Delco’s emergency services headquarters. According to data from the county Department of Emergency Services, there were roughly 2,900 incidents in 2020 and that number jumped to about 3,200 in 2021. Like elsewhere in the country, mental health incidents in Delco are also on the rise. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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