Augusta, Ga. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is delivering new resources to strengthen public safety in Augusta-Richmond County.
Sen. Ossoff is delivering new resources for Augusta-Richmond’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), which plans to create a co-responder team in which mental health specialists respond alongside trained law enforcement officers to emergencies where someone is experiencing a mental health crisis.
Sen. Ossoff brought Republicans and Democrats together to deliver $317,000 for the project through this year’s bipartisan government funding package, working alongside Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock.
“When first responders enter a situation with someone in a crisis, we want to ensure they have the training and backup they need to defuse the situation and make sure that everyone emerges safely,” Sen. Ossoff said. “I brought Republicans and Democrats together to deliver these resources to support mental health care services and law enforcement efforts to keep families safe across Augusta and the CSRA. I thank Augusta-Richmond County leaders for bringing this proposal to my office and for their leadership in the community.”
“Deputies are increasingly responding to mental health calls where a subject may have committed an offense because they were in a state of mental health crisis. Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has trained CIT deputies and being able to dispatch mental health specialists to respond along with our deputies will be beneficial to the safety of our deputies and subjects they encounter. Having this option available will also increase the likelihood that subjects will be triaged to the hospital for mental health evaluation instead of the detention center,” said Sheriff Richard Roundtree.
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