(Greensburg, IN) – Greensburg City Council and Board of Works both received information from Decatur County Sheriff Bill Meyerrose and Jail Commander Mike Eggleston Tuesday night on the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program.
Eggleston says the main focus of the CIT is to create an atmosphere that puts mental and behavioral health top of mind, and gets those who need interventions the help they need, and at the same keeping people in crisis as well as city and county first responders safe.
He adds the program’s benefits include steering those having a crisis from landing in jail or the emergency room, and cutting down on recidivism.
Meyerrose emphasized the importance of the CIT directing people to the appropriate resources, including inpatient or outpatient services, plus referrals while – at the same time – reducing the stigma about mental health.
He also praised Eggleston for taking the lead and for his work on the program.
The program is based on the one used in Johnson County, which is considered the gold standard of CIT initiatives.
Discussions about the collaborative program coming into the Greensburg/Decatur County have been going on for some time.
Funding for the first five to six years of the program comes from a $5 million Lilly Endowment grant received by the Decatur County Community Foundation last year.
Council and Board of Works members voiced their support and said they’re looking forward to seeing the results shown during the grant period, with a goal of including funding for the initiative in the city budget once the grant dollars run out.
Greensburg City Attorney Chris Stephen and County Attorney Chad Smith will work out a Memorandum of Understanding to lay out the framework on the operation structure, since this is a city-county collaboration.
