What The “Stepping Up Initiative” Means For Justice and Public Safety in Boone County

Over the last weeks and months, we have heard the demands across the country to change how law enforcement does its job. Locally, community members have rallied and spoken about practices that disproportionately impact people of color. At the same time, others in our community and across the country have spoken to the need to support law enforcement, pointing to departments with limited numbers of officers available within the community or available to staff detention facilities. 

While these groups may seem to have interests that are polar opposites, there is a middle ground where law enforcement officers CAN “serve and protect” and CAN demonstrate a fundamental respect for those with whom they interact. A big part of that equation is providing law enforcement with the resources they need—and I’m not talking about weapons. I’m talking about training and other resources. And, yes, I’m talking about more officers too.

This topic was front and center for me yesterday, July 28th, as I listened to my friend and colleague, Steve Hollis, the Human Services Manager for the City/County Health Department, participate in a webinar sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, a Center within the US Department of Health and Human Services. The topic of the webinar was data sharing, particularly among law enforcement, behavioral health, and other social service agencies. In his presentation, Steve focused on the work that we have been doing here in Boone County, work on which I am passionately committed. He started that discussion by listing many of the projects in which we have been engaged since 2014, when Boone County joined the National Association of Counties’ (NACo’s) Stepping Up Initiative. 

The Stepping Up Initiative was created because of the disproportionate rate at which individuals with behavioral health issues across the country are involved in the criminal justice system and detained in our county jails. These individuals are detained for longer periods of time, re-offend at higher rates, and have worse results than other individuals facing the same charges.  

I recognized that Boone County was no different in this respect than other jurisdictions. Our jail was the largest mental health facility in the county, and more resources—from law enforcement, to prosecutors and public defenders, to the court system, to the jail itself—were expended on this population. This further meant that our annual county budget was significantly impacted, as such a large percentage of revenues fund those core governmental activities. 

Given those individual and community impacts, we knew we had to do better. I knew we COULD do better. So, I took the lead in joining the Stepping Up Initiative and together, with many partners, we began the journey.  Steve’s listing of Boone County’s projects and activities was, in large part, an acknowledgement and celebration of those partnerships and collaborations over the past six years.

• With over 35 community stakeholders—from law enforcement agencies throughout the county, to faith community members, to re-entry agencies, to behavioral health care providers, to Probation & Parole, to the courts, to lawyers involved in every facet of the criminal justice system, to the local hospitals, especially MU’s Psychiatric Unit, to MU’s School of Social Work, to the Housing Authority, to EMS providers and the Fire Departments—we held two Sequential Intercept Mappings, and analyzed resources and gaps in resources for individuals intersecting with the criminal justice system.  
  
  
• With huge support from Burrell Behavioral Health, we went from a system that provided a Community Mental Health Liaison (CMHL) for Boone County—but shared with NINE other counties––to a CMHL designated to serve only Boone and Randolph Counties.  This individual can now provide timely assistance to law enforcement as they engage with individuals in mental health crisis. 
  
  
• We built on the commitment of the Sheriff’s Department and the Columbia Police Department to ensure that officers receive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and expanded the training by including detention officers in the Boone County Jail and 911 tele-communicators. This means that those interacting with members of the public have a working knowledge of mental health issues; receive training in de-escalation; and recognize the need for self-care in themselves and their colleagues.  
  
  
• Community stakeholders, including representatives of the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, meet regularly to discuss and find solutions to the disproportionate rate at which children of color are referred to the Juvenile Office in Boone County. This intentional work impacts not only juveniles but also the long-term trajectory of adults since data shows that children referred to Juvenile are much more likely to also be justice-involved as adults.  
  
  
• Boone County voters supported the Children’s Mental Health tax by a wide margin in 2012, and this tax funds, among other programs, the Family Access Center for Excellence (FACE), which has created a place to which children and their families can be referred rather than directing them into the Juvenile Justice system. 
  
  
• Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey led the way toward having a uniform records management system across all law enforcement agencies in Boone County. This uniform approach allows officers to make decisions based on knowledge that an individual is in mental health crisis and, in the event of an interaction with law enforcement, the response is appropriate to the situation and safer for both the officer and the individual.
  
  
• With collaboration of faculty members in the MU School of Social Work, the mental health professional assigned to the Jail, detention staff, and Boone County Community Services staff, we developed a two-phase mental health assessment for those entering the jail, to ensure that mental health issues are promptly identified and addressed. 
  
  
• Building upon a data-sharing project funded by a grant from the Corporation for Supportive Housing and implemented by the University of Chicago and the Boone County Community Services Department, we have been able to match data on homelessness and justice-involvement and, based on that match, prioritize resources for the most vulnerable and the highest utilizers of limited resources. This allowed us to obtain, through the incredible efforts of the Housing Authority, housing vouchers that, paired with supportive services, have led to real change for individuals who had been heavily involved in both systems.
  
  

Steve’s account of what has been accomplished over the last several years made me proud to live in Boone County and to be a part of this initiative.  It made me proud to know that, although we have much more to accomplish, we have made a difference through our willingness to look at ourselves in the mirror, to see not only what we are doing well but what we can do better. It made me proud that, in our community, we don’t shy away from discourse or from facts. It made me thankful for those who choose to collaborate, to find a path forward together, from members of the faith community to law enforcement, from court personnel to public defenders and prosecutors. 

Do we need more resources?  The answer is a resounding YES.  We must critically analyze how people become involved in the justice system—from juveniles to adults—and determine what resources will keep them from that trajectory. We must give law enforcement the resources necessary, from training to personnel, to help them make appropriate decisions. And we must continue the candid, open conversations, knowing that only through authentic conversations can we implement positive change.

For additional information regarding the Stepping Up Initiative in Boone County and Janet’s involvement in it, see the following media links:
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Boone County Commissioner Appointed to National Committee
(Boone County Journal, July 29, 2020)

Data-Driven Justice Community Portrait: Commissioner Janet Thompson 
(National Association of Counties, June 30, 2020)

Boone County Works To Provide Mental Health Programs To The Community
(Columbia Missourian, Jan 20, 2020)

Stepping Up Initiative: Special Topics Case Studies
(National Association of Counties, Dec 12, 2019)

Boone County Joins White House’s Data-Driven Justice Initiative
(ShowMeBoone.com Press Release, Oct 19, 2016)

Boone County Steps Up On Mental Health Issues
(KOMU, Oct 6, 2016)

Thompson Hopes to Continue Mental Health Initiative With Second Term
(Columbia Tribune, Oct 2, 2016)
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Special Report: Breaking the Cycle
(ABC17News, May 13, 2016)