WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — The Wichita Falls PD is rolling out its new Multidisciplinary Behavioral Health Response Team this September as they iron out wrinkles on how this team will operate.

It’s a partnership with the Helen Farabee Center, which is funding the unit for two years.

“We think that would help us would be to reduce the calls for service,” Wichita Falls Police Chief Manuel Borrego said.

In an August city council meeting, Borrego expressed the unit was still in training and would be deployed by October.

The unit is in a beta test now, responding to only a few calls since its creation.

“We’ll have us responding and trying to figure out how this thing works. We’re keeping a lot of data. We’ve got metrics that we have to try to figure out how we want to show that, we’ve made less response, that we’ve got people back into treatment.” Borrego told councilors.

Borrego said when officers respond to mental health calls, they’re already at a crisis level, leaving officers to use some type of force.

With a clinician and paramedic on the team, he hopes the two can calm the situation before an officer has to step in.

“We were looking at how could we mitigate this, how could we be proactive in this,” Borrego said.

Borrego said Abilene has seen success with its two units.

Olney PD Chief Dan Birbeck said he plans to introduce the idea of mental health units to next year’s legislature to get lawmakers’ support.

“Last, two law enforcement-related shootings in Young County have been incidences where mental health was involved,” Birbeck said. “The idea is to reduce recidivism by caring for the root cause.”

Borrego said the goal is for the clinician and paramedic to focus on their craft and help anyone facing a mental episode.

“We’re hoping, maybe, in the future, we can create another team if necessary,” Borrego said.

The new partnership aims to tackle those struggling with mental health in our community.

Borrego said in October that the unit will be in full response mode and will receive calls based on the dispatcher’s judgment of the situation.

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