KPD’s Killeen Cares program receives tepid community response

Killeen Daily Herald
By Lauren Dodd | Herald staff writer
November 6, 2022

When the Killeen Cares program launched last spring, dozens attended a catered event hosted by the Killeen Police Department heralding its first program specially designed for people with mental illness and autism.

Six months later, 13 people have enrolled, according to an update from KPD Thursday. Regarding the program’s success to date, KPD Chief Charles Kimble did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

KILLEEN CARES

By design, residents with diagnosed mental illnesses or autism may voluntarily enroll in KPD’s Killeen Cares program.

Once a medical release is received by KPD, each person enrolled is issued two ribbon stickers, and their information is entered into a confidential KPD database.

One decal is green, signifying mental health awareness, and the other is decorated with multi-colored puzzle pieces, indicating the participant is on the autism spectrum.

A fact sheet answering questions about the program in May compared the Killeen Cares stickers to a penicillin or diabetic bracelet.

“A person should enroll in the program because it provides a level of awareness to the officers for the benefit of the citizen,” KPD’s fact sheet said.

The stickers — meant to be stuck to the back of a person’s vehicle — are to alert officers to rely on their crisis intervention training when approaching those enrolled in the program.

JOB INTERVIEW

The Seattle, Washington, area heard about the Killeen Cares program weeks before it was announced locally in Central Texas.

Killeen-area residents learned of the program in April when the Herald broke news of its existence as it was pitched virtually by KPD Police Chief Charles Kimble during two Zoom job interviews with the King County Sheriff’s Department in Seattle. At the time, the police chief was vying to be King County’s next sheriff. He didn’t get the job.

“We’ll put your address in our system,” Kimble said speaking via Zoom to King County interviewers in April. “We’ll give you a bumper sticker... so we know when we pull you over in a traffic stop this may go differently. So the officer knows, if we have contact with you in the street, we know that you’re a person enrolled in our Killeen Cares program.”

During the interview, the police chief said the origins of the program began soon after KPD had “an unfortunate critical incident intersection of mental health and law enforcement and someone lost their life.”

KPD made nationwide news in January 2021, when Killeen resident Patrick Warren Sr. was shot and killed by a KPD police officer as Warren was having a serious mental health episode outside his family home. The Killeen resident aggressively approached the officer, who first tried to use a Taser against Warren, but that device did not stop Warren. Moments later, the officer fatally shot Warren at close range.

Mental Health

As some critical of the program pointed out at its launch, where the Killeen Cares program differs from other law enforcement mental health programs, such as the Houston Police Department’s, is it lacks a mental health professional component.

At its launch in May, Mellisa Brown, who was a Killeen councilwoman at the time, asked Kimble how the new program would have changed Warren’s fatal outcome considering the officer knew he was responding to a mental health call.

“I think if we tried to overlay this program to that I think the response may have been different,” Kimble said in May. “Maybe the dispatcher would have put out more information, maybe there would have been a decal in front of his house... you know, we can what if it to death. I don’t know.”

The Killeen Cares program inputs residents in a KPD database and gives them stickers, but does not provide KPD police officers with additional mental health professionals to assist during serious mental health crises, as some other departments do.

The Houston Police Department has a “Crisis Intervention Response Team” which partners police officers with masters-level licensed professional clinicians to assist in response to serious mental health situations.

According to HPD’s website, it is one of six departments selected nationwide by the United States Council of State Governments as a learning site for law enforcement special programs geared towards citizens with mental illness.

HPD also has a program called the “Chronic Consumer Stabilization Initiative” which pairs mental health case managers with residents whose continuous mental health crises have resulted in frequent calls to police.

TEPID RESPONSE

In June, on Killeen Cares’ one-month anniversary, five individuals had signed up and another 50 had received applications.

As of Thursday, a total of 13 individuals — six adults and seven minors — are Killeen Cares participants, according to an email Thursday from KPD Sgt. Angela Mathews.

When asked which medical providers are participating in Killeen Cares, Mathews included the following list:

• Scott & White
• Advent
• Central County Services
• Mentor and Counseling Services
• Autism Behavior Support
• Laurel Ridge
• Cedar Crest
• Behavior Health Services

Mathews said residents may also pick up a Killeen Cares application at KPD to take to any medical provider, in addition to the ones specified above.

One in every five U.S. adults experiences mental illness every year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

According to the nonprofit, in February 2021, 43.4% of adults in Texas reported symptoms of anxiety or depression and 26.4% were unable to get needed counseling or therapy.

For a list of Texas mental health crisis hotlines and resources, go to: https://namitexas.org/crisis/.