The City of Mount Rainier Police Department, in partnership with The City of Hyattsville and the Prince George’s County Family Justice Center, is the recipient of two grants funding mental health programs for the Police Department and establishing a satellite office to serve survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
(Mount Rainier, MD) - The City of Mount Rainier Police Department (MRPD) is the recipient of two separate grant fundings by The Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (DOJ-COPS) and the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women (DOJ-OVW) to develop and launch a Joint Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Mobile Crisis Program and expand services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
As police officers respond to calls involving persons with mental health issues, the DOJ COPS grant totaling $230,000 will fund the formation of a CIT co-responder program for the MRPD, Hyattsville City Police Department, and Brentwood Police Department. The funding will allow the joint-municipal program to hire a licensed mental health practitioner to respond with CIT-certified law enforcement officers to the scene of extreme behavioral health crises calls.
MRPD Police Chief Linwood Alston recognizes the fund will help the MRPD in its effort to help and support its citizens suffering a mental health crisis. “Almost every day, when I look at the summary of the daily activity reports, the officers are dealing with individuals in need of mental health services or dealing with substance abuse issues. Partnering with a licensed mental health practitioner gives us the capacity to do more to better support our citizens,” he said.
In addition to the DOJ-COPS grant, MRPD is awarded the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women’s Improving Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program grant through the Prince George’s County Family Justice Center (PGFJC),
The PGFJC, the lead agency for the program, in partnership with MRPD, Bladensburg Police Department, Cottage City Police Department, and Prince George’s Sheriff’s Office will use the newly awarded funding totaling $978,436 to extend its hours of operation and open 7 new satellite offices to provide more accessible services to citizens in Prince George’s County who are in crisis and need help to escape abusive situations and conditions.
One of the satellite offices will be opened in the City of Mount Rainier. This will provide greater access to individuals in need of the help and services they need such as emergency shelter, protective orders, counseling, and crisis intervention.
The news of the grant awards came after Celina Benitez, mayor of the City of Mount Rainier, and the City Council just recently approved the appointment of a full-time social services coordinator to work with the police department.
“Social services has always been the priority of the City of Mount Rainier, it is the reason why we pushed in making our part-time social worker full-time because we see there is a need for social services in the City. With the grants, it will help provide the police and our social services coordinator the tools to fully equip them in helping our citizens in crisis, ” Mayor Celina Benitez said.