Roselle police department wants two full-time mental health counselors

Roselle police chief Steve Herron, saying mental health services will be a bigger part of police work in the future, is seeking to permanently hire two full-time mental health counselors for the department.

The department is applying for a $200,000 grant fund from Bloomingdale Township to hire counselor Colleen Martinez and another counselor to handle mental health crises in Roselle. Herron has asked the village board to create the two positions.

Herron will speak to Bloomingdale Township officials Sept. 20 to lobby for the funding, which would be for one year.

Martinez was brought from the DuPage County Health Department part time to assist the department in 2019 as a result of the first $100,000 grant.

"The intent of the work that I do seems to be making a positive impact on the community, and I'm very happy to see that my work is making a difference," Martinez said.

Martinez offers counseling and follow-up calls for victims of domestic violence, mental illness, child or elder abuse, crisis intervention, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and other youth and family issues in the village.

Herron said that from June 2020 to June 2021, Martinez handled 543 cases. Of these cases, 46% were domestic violence, 19% were mental health, 7% were mental health referrals, 4% were check-ins, 2% were juvenile cases, 3% were village hall referrals, and others were cases unrelated to police work.

The other cases can involve working with Lake Park High School for counseling purposes or even contacting other municipalities for people currently in the village who are from out of state.

She was solving issues such as domestic violence, mental service calls and instances of hoarding.

"The health department has been awesome," Herron said. "Having a staff as fluent and understanding with the residents as possible is a valuable asset to the community."

Herron said mental health providers are just as important as police officers or firefighters to serving the public. It can also save lives.

According to a 2018 study by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, up to 10% of police-civilian interactions involve a civilian with a mental health disorder. An officer is 4½ times more likely to use force during these interactions, increasing the risk of harm for the officer and the individual in crisis, the study said.

"A lot of the people that engage with me are those that reach out before there is a problem," Martinez said. "Having this contact in the community helps prevent major crises from happening."