Huron County Sheriff's Officer can handle 'almost any situation'

NORWALK — Huron County Sheriff's Office does its best to provide inmates the resources they need while in custody and when they leave. Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin said the office and jail work with MHAS to help find placement for those who need to be admitted and several other agencies and organizations to help provide resources for those in need. With Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), Corbin said any officer in law enforcement for a period of time can handle almost any situation. "Obviously, some people are better than others. But for the most part, everyone's professional and they're good at what they do," Corbin said. "And they know that if they're not suited for something, there's someone they can reach out to." At Huron County Jail, jail administrator Chuck Summers said the jail has a counselor that comes several times a week. "They do a whole lot of different things, deal with people in crisis, and then make a determination whether or not they need to be sent to the psychiatric hospital or some other facility," Summers said. "We make the arrangements to have them transported somewhere for treatments. Unless of course, it's just a counseling issue here, that they can do while incarcerated here, but they're very well taken care of from that standpoint." When people are released from jail, they are given contact information to continue mental health services, Summers said. "We're starting should be here in the next couple of weeks, a packet that would give people with some drug and alcohol problems resources when they leave here to continue with any kind of counseling or help that they may need for addictions or anything else. It's up to them whether they follow up or not." He said mental health has been one of the biggest hurdles for the jail and is a work in progress. "We've had a real good rapport with Firelands and some of the other agencies and stuff, as far as getting these people help. It seems to be working pretty well from our standpoint in here anyway," Summers said. Corbin said most counselors prefer to help and treat patients after they've been subdued and if counselors helped respond to mental health calls, it could create a liability. While using restraint or getting physical with someone is a rare occurrence, Corbin said, it sometimes is necessary if the person is unable to be talked down. "We can reach out to get them someplace where they can be treated and treated well. There's quite a bit out there that can help. The hardest part for us is finding people to take advantage of it," he said. "If you're mentally ill and you don't know you need the help, then we obviously have to take the position of protecting you against yourself and making hard decisions." Geoffrey Melada, director of communications for the Treatment Advocacy Center, said Salt Lake City moved from police to ambulances and now are using non-emergency vehicles to respond to mental health calls. "Their model was picked up by CIT International's best practices guide, which calls for law enforcement to not even be included as co-responders," Melada said. "In southern Arizona, a collaboration between law enforcement and mental health providers – a hybrid police/non-police model – has fostered one of the most innovative prevention and crisis response models for persons with mental illness in the United States." Corbin said he uses local programs, like peer support groups and Area Law Enforcement Recovery Team, that have proven themselves to work and help mentally ill people in the area. "I'm very passionate about what we do and it's not just a job, it is truly a lifestyle. Because you gotta be the same person in uniform as you are out," Corbin said. "I'm honored and humbled at the fact that the people elected me to do this job because they believe in me. I don't want to disappoint them."