Less than 24 hours after Supervisor Kathryn Barger told a large group in Valencia about the need for more mental evaluation teams given their effectiveness in responding to mental health incidents, local sheriff’s deputies rescued a man threatening to jump off a bridge in Canyon Country early Thursday morning.
Shortly after 3 a.m., deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to reports of a man threatening to jump off the Highway 14 overpass bridge on Golden Valley Road.
“There was a sheriff’s unit that responded and located an adult male that was taken to receive mental health emergency treatment,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff Station.
Since the MET units began accompanying deputies on calls involving mental health issues, their assistance has not gone unnoticed.
“Right now, our MET team deputy and clinician are here on day shift and p.m. shift,” Miller said Thursday.
“We don’t have MET team on early morning shift,” she said.
The team is expanding, and sheriff’s officials hope that by summer, they will have 24-hour coverage.
Barger, speaking at the State of the County luncheon on Wednesday, said of the MET teams: “Arrests went down a little less than 1% when mental evaluation teams were put into play. “
Los Angeles County has 120 such co-response teams and is looking to expand that number to 150.
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