This month’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting offered more than police updates and community Q&A – it also offered the opportunity to learn about an agency you might never have heard of – King County Crisis and Commitment Services. KCCCS has people on duty 24/7, explained Frank Couch, to deal with complaints/allegations about someone who’s become threatening and/or a danger to themselves and/or others. Their potential tool is the Involuntary Treatment Act, which, Couch explained, despite its name, is about public safety, not treatment. Here’s our video of what he told the WSCPC last night at the Southwest Precinct:

Key points from his presentation:

The agency is headquartered in downtown Seattle but serves people countywide, working with more than 30 law-enforcement agencies. Yet to cover all that, they have just 41 people – 6 to 8 crisis responders on duty at any given time, 2 always available by phone to take calls about potential referrals. And right now, they’re short-staffed. Attracting and retaining people is difficult because It’s a challenging job – they are involved in the heat of the crisis and don’t get to see what happens after that. Couch explained, “We’re triaging all day, every day’ – the work is nonstop. But he was clear that they are not “first responders.” They investigate in person and decide if someone needs to be involuntarily detained, for up to 120 hours, after which a hospital can file to keep them for another 14 days or put them on an agreed order.

Keeping people for longer is not a default goal, Couch stressed. “Our job is not only to detain people but also to find less-restrictive options.” Their duty is to protect the patient and community – and to “de-institutionalize” people, compared to the old days of institutionalizing people indefinitely, which is now considered “not appropriate.” People need “a clear path to reintegrate back into the community …. learn to live a productive life.” It’s considered “not appropriate” to institutionalize someone forever.
They may also be called in to evaluate people in jail before they’re released.

Couch explained the decisionmaking progress about whether to “detain” someone – it’s not just law-enforcement referrals, but also the general public, In 2018, the law changed – among other things, references to “designated mental health providers” became references to “responders.” You have the legal right to have a behavioral condition and not be detained for it – but once it becomes a danger to others, or yourself, that’s where this comes in. Complicating matters, though, Couch continued, they run into a capacity problem – there might not be a bed if someone needs it. “We can’t detain unless there’s a bed.” They have to fill out a “no-bed” report if there’s no place for someone to go.

He also offered advice: If you’re reporting someone, tell them everything you can about the person and their behavior rather than trying to make an evaluation/determination – “don’t try to dictate it, just (tell us everything) and we’ll (figure it out) … We don’t detain everyone.” Federal rules limit how many beds a facility can have, he noted in response to a question – you can’t just decide to expand a facility by adding beds. Another question: What can be done about an area with many people likely in danger/crisis, such as an encampment? They deal only with specific individual people who are referred, Couch said.

Contact information for Crisis and Commitment Services is on their webpage.