The public is invited to participate as stakeholders continue discussions about challenges facing area courts and law enforcement Tuesday.
Spurred by the state Supreme Court, the coalition of community leaders began discussions early in 2020 and reported its findings in June this year.
During the project’s most recent meeting in May, people in attendance broke into groups and discussed: justice, courts and law enforcement; juveniles and education; mental health and treatment; human services and transportation; and a resource project support group that could continue looking at challenges previously identified.
Organizers will hold Tuesday’s meeting virtually, and it will focus on mental health concerns and the opportunities available — or soon to be available — in Cole County.
Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker will update attendees on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which reinvests money saved by incarcerating fewer people into programs that reduce crime and recidivism, and the Community Resource Project.
“This meeting will feature statewide speakers on issues that have some focus on the justice system responses to those with mental health issues,” Walker said Thursday. “We continue to work on other issues, namely community awareness of the services we have in place and new opportunities on the horizon.”
Tuesday’s speakers also include: Ted Solomon, a community behavioral health liaison; Jason Klaus, the Missouri Crisis Intervention Team coordinator; Lauren Moyer, Compass vice president of clinical innovation, who will discuss 988, an emergency number to call in case of a mental health emergency; Jamie Bartin, who oversees crisis programs for Compass, who will discuss Community Stabilization Centers; and Angela Plunkett, who will discuss the Sequential Intercept Model, which shows how people with mental and substance use disorders come into contact with and move through the criminal justice system.
A question-and-answer period will follow.
The meeting is 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday in Walker’s virtual meeting room. To join the meeting, visit mocourts.webex.com/meet/judge.cotton.walker or join by phone at 1-408-418-9388 (access code 960647235).