BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Bellows Falls Police Chief David Bemis attended the Tuesday, July 17, regular meeting of the Bellows Falls Trustees, at the request of Rockingham municipal manager Scott Pickup.
Pickup presented the board with an incident analysis provided by the police department to illustrate the constant challenge they face handling what Pickup referred to as a “significant number of responses that deal with mental health.”
“In some instances,” Pickup explained, “we’ll end up going to the same location multiple times [in] a week, a day, a month. Over the course of a year, it can be fairly extensive. It is a challenge for us in terms of our resources; [these are] difficult calls to respond to in many instances, [with] people in various stages of mental distress.”
Pickup spoke of the general lack of mental health facilities and services available where police can send individuals requiring assistance. He mentioned that Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) of Vermont had visited Bellows Falls last year to discuss their effort to aid police departments across the state when faced with these types of mental health crises.
Pickup asked Bemis if the HCRS Mobile Crisis program had achieved the goals they’d set out to accomplish, to which Bemis replied, “It’s a work in progress.”
In their attempt to cover more territory, HCRS decreased the number of hours the police social worker spent in Bellows Falls. Bemis explained that the social worker initially assigned to the Bellows Falls Police Department, Barbara Parizo, now also serves Windsor and Chester, and shares responsibilities with other mobile crisis responders to cover calls elsewhere as needed. “We’d like to see her back with us 100% of the time,” Bemis stated.
“I don’t know if this is a funding question, a question for our state representatives, or a direct request to the governor’s office,” Pickup said, addressing the board.
A brief discussion about ideas to fully fund the police social worker position in Bellows Falls commenced, and Pickup expressed some frustration with the lack of response from HCRS to emails he’d sent inquiring about pursuing possible grant funding.
Chief Bemis and Pickup quickly discussed a villagewide effort to educate and enforce state laws and regulations regarding the use of e-bikes, after receiving complaints from residents about reckless riders in the downtown area. Pickup handed out a pamphlet, also available on the website, detailing safety ordinances, tips, and reminders for e-bike riders.
Bemis also mentioned that the police department has a limited supply of children’s bike helmets available free of charge for any village resident without one. Any rider under the age of 16 is required to wear a helmet.
The next meeting of the board of trustees will be Aug. 19. A public hearing is scheduled to discuss the updated ordinance for streets and sidewalks, and a draft of the letter to the governor and state representatives regarding HCRS will be presented for review.