Denton County is exploring a Mental Health and Diversion Center pilot that would give law enforcement somewhere to take low-level, nonviolent offenders in mental health crisis besides jail, County Judge Andy Eads wrote in a column published Thursday in the Cross Timbers Gazette.
The county is partnering on the concept with Denton County Behavioral Health, the county's Housing and Homelessness office and the United Way of Denton County, Eads wrote.
The idea: officers encountering someone whose underlying problem is a mental health challenge could connect that person with care and services instead of booking them, an approach a growing number of Texas counties have adopted to relieve jail crowding and interrupt the cycle of repeat arrests.
The catch is money. Eads wrote that implementing the pilot would require state funding support, and that the county is working with industry leaders on a strategic plan ahead of the upcoming Texas legislative session, when that request would be made.
