Tune in to listen to our special guests: Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department: Sheriff Deputy James McKarrell and County Mobile Crisis Clinician Bradley Crable, LCSW.
James was hired by the Sheriff's Office is 2006. He spent most of his career on patrol, working closely with the communities that he’s served. James was promoted to his current position (CRD) in August of 2015. His primary assignment is to meet, collaborate and problem solve with our community members to keep IV a thriving, safe and cool place for us all. So far they have made tremendous strives together. He enjoys connecting with our community.
James works with Crable, who is a SB County Mobile Crisis Clinician with SB Behavioral Wellness. He is a crisis outreach worker who is able to make a determination if a subject needs to be placed on an involuntary hold/52150. The two respond to a new alliance called the Crisis Intervention Team, which pairs law enforcement with mental health specialists.
The program is called Co-Response and is an experimental program run by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department that helps prevent mentally ill people from hurting themselves or others may have to end soon, even after a successful start. The pilot program, which started in September, pairs a deputy trained in mental health issues and a mental health worker who understands the resources available to people in need.
Deputy James McKarrell and Mobile Crisis Clinician Bradley Crable have responded to approximately 80 emergency calls. They typically arrive first before a patrol unit to de-escalate the situation. The team is diverting people from acute hospitalization into lower levels of treatment, and diverting them from the criminal justice system in lower levels of treatment.
Over the life of the program the pair determined 10 people needed to be under a 5150 hold, while convincing others to get treatment voluntarily. When weapons were involved, they were confiscated. Currently, the pilot program only exists in the South County, from Carpinteria to the Gaviota Tunnel, where there is the largest volume of health calls.
