Q&A with Tulsa Police Capt. Shellie Seibert on the city's new mental health response system

The city of Tulsa is preparing to implement a new method in response to mental health 911 calls - the first of its kind in the state. Capt. Shellie Seibert is the mental health coordinator for the Tulsa Police Department. She answered some questions about how it aims to help even more.

Q: In Tulsa, what mental health responses are already in place?

"We've had a longstanding partnership with the Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services (COPES) for over 20 years. In 2017, we launched the Community Response Team. It's the fire department paramedic, a licensed mental health professional and a police officer in one vehicle together responding to 911 mental health calls. Last year, we launched the IRT, Integrated Response Team, and that puts a licensed mental health professional in the evenings at each patrol division to respond with officers on mental health calls," said Seibert. "The fire department also launched last year, the ART, the Alternative Response Team, and that doesn't have law enforcement attached. So, that's a fire paramedic and a licensed mental health professional."

Q: How will this new system differ?

"We’ve had COPES in our 911 public safety center for years, but what's different now is they’re going to get trained like dispatchers and they're going to be able to dispatch their own mental health team straight out of our 911 center. I anticipate this reducing the amount of 911 calls that officers have to go on, maybe by half if not more." 

Q: What will the response look like after the call is made?

"We’re going to use a crisis call matrix, we’ve developed it over the last 18 months with community partners and it really prioritizes mental health calls on levels 1-4. COPES professionals will triage the calls and assign them a level."

Captain Seibert says the levels are the following: 

1. Crisis prevention: connecting the caller with mental health resources or social services over the phone.
2. Crisis remote: Telephone or Telehealth stabilization in the home. 
3. Non-law enforcement in person response: COPES team is dispatched, sometimes along with medical response.
4. Law enforcement response: a public safety risk or crime has occurred.

Q: Tulsa would be the first city in Oklahoma to implement this model. What's your reaction to that?

"Tulsa's always ahead of everything. We've been doing this for a while now. We've had response teams operating as the first response teams in Oklahoma as well. Having COPES be able to dispatch civilian mental health teams out of the 911 center, it is groundbreaking. There are models across the United States that do that, and I'm very proud of what we've accomplished here in Tulsa."

This new response will go into effect in Feb. 

If you are having a mental health episode, you are encouraged to call 988, and not 911, unless there is a public safety threat. You can also call the COPES number at 918-744-4800.