Albany County Launches ACCORD Pilot Program To Modernize Dispatch Response For Mental Health Crises

Press release from the Albany County Government:

June 11, 2021

The newly created Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and Diverting (ACCORD) program designed to improve outcomes for nonviolent emergency calls into County dispatch is rolling out Friday as a pilot program in the Hilltowns. The initiative is a multi-agency partnership that will team up County social workers and paramedics to provide an appropriate response unit for those in need of assistance where a law enforcement presence is unnecessary.

“This multi-faceted program is a common sense upgrade of the way that nonviolent calls for emergency assistance are handled in Albany County,” said Albany County Legislature Chairman Andrew Joyce. “When we conceptualized this program last fall we wanted to ensure that people got the proper help they needed and that our police force was freed up to focus on upholding the law. Now more than ever, our deputies should be preventing and responding to crime.”

“Mental health is an essential aspect of overall health and this partnership between our Department of Mental Health, the County Legislature and the Albany County Sheriff shows we are willing to try new concepts and models to make the services we provide more efficient and accessible to the constituents we serve,” said Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy.

The ACCORD program consists of two response teams, with social workers from the County’s Mobile Crisis Team and paramedics from the Sheriff’s Office, who have been trained to handle situations involving mental health and nonviolent emergency cases where law enforcement is not essential.

The teams will work on a rotating shift and will be dispatched from the Sheriff’s Office. The first shift, which rolled out on Friday, will handle response from Monday through Friday. The second team, which starts towards the end of June, will be responding to calls Sunday through Thursday.

“The Sheriff’s Office is always looking to partner in unique programs to help the citizens of Albany County. The ACCORD program, although a pilot program in the Hilltowns, the service being provided is the first of its kind in the Capital Region, and can be replicated in other areas of the County,” said Sheriff Craig Apple.

The partnership between the Sheriff’s Office and the Mental Health office will require the sharing of resources including staff and records and coordination while deciding when dispatch of the unit is needed. ACCORD would build on the success of the County’s mobile health crisis unit through improved dispatch and the addition of paramedics in many instances.

“Across the nation communities are reimagining crisis response strategies. In Albany County we have developed a cutting-edge alternative that builds upon the Department of Mental Health’s decades of experience providing mobile crisis services and reflects emerging standards of community care. Persons experiencing mental health crises deserve a mental health response whenever possible. Partnering with the Sheriff’s Office to pair up mental health experts with medics provides a compassionate response to persons in crisis and frees up law enforcement to focus on public safety matters,” said Dr. Stephen Giordano, Albany County Mental Health Commissioner.

The ACCORD program is modeled after similar alternative programs such as the Oregon-based CAHOOTS program. The Albany County program will start in the Hilltowns and may be expanded to other areas in the County and adjusted to fit local municipalities systems. The County is partnering with the University at Albany who will analyze data collected through ACCORD to create a roadmap for how to scale the program within Albany County and implement it in other municipalities.

“Collecting and analyzing data to ensure new programs are delivering for those they are designed to help is central to smart policymaking,” said University at Albany researchers Dr. Tomoko Udo and Dr. Carmen Morano. “UAlbany’s School of Public Health and School of Social Welfare are proud to partner with Albany County to gather objective evidence for ACCORD’s impact in reducing adverse police encounters among those in crisis and to clearly document how the program works to help other communities more easily follow in Albany County’s footsteps.”

The ACCORD program was created in December 2020 with an initial investment of $170,000 to fund two additional social worker positions in the Department of Mental Health. Another $30,000 is being invested for the partnership between the County and UAlbany.

“ACCORD is a major step in making sure that citizens suffering from a mental health crisis are met with medical professionals not law enforcement. This program has the potential to create better outcomes for those in need of help as well as saving taxpayer dollars,” said County Legislator Matthew Peter. “The collaboration between the Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Mental Health, the County Executive’s Office and the Chairman of the Legislature’s Office as well as UAlbany has been incredible and a testament to the dedicated professionals in county government.”

This press release was produced by the Albany County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.