In the hope of reducing juvenile crime in San Benito County and
throughout the state, local law enforcement is lobbying to have
money garnered through a statewide mental health proposition
dedicated to treating mentally-ill youth.
Hollister – In the hope of reducing juvenile crime in San Benito County and throughout the state, local law enforcement is lobbying to have money garnered through a statewide mental health proposition dedicated to treating mentally-ill youth.
Sheriff Curtis Hill is supporting utilizing funding from Proposition 63 to fund community-based treatment and intervention programs to directly affect juvenile crime, he said.
Approved by voters last November, Prop. 63 levies a 1 percent tax on Californians with incomes in excess of $1 million a year for the state’s mental health department, which is then distributed to counties.
“Right now at the local level, the availability of mental health options and prevention/intervention for our youth is lacking in funding,” Hill said. “We’re really looking toward utilizing a piece of the Prop. 63 money at our level. Incarceration is not the answer, probation is not the answer. If you don’t have a good program to follow for juveniles, they’ll continue to go right through the system.”
Hill and other California law enforcement officials will be holding a statewide teleconference for media only on Monday to drum up support for more local funding for initiatives to combat juvenile crime. Their message will be that for every $1 spent on prevention/intervention, $7 is saved down the road in the criminal justice system.
The San Benito County Mental Health Department should receive its first annual allotment from Prop 63 by January – approximately $730,000, said director Alan Yamamoto.
Yamamoto said it would be nice to devout large sums of money to combating juvenile crime, but that the money has four priorities to meet: children, youth who are nearing adulthood, adults and seniors. Approximately 1,200 patients are seen in the department each year.
“Some people may have the perception that we’ve won the lottery but there are so many unmet needs with this finite amount of money,” he said.
Yamamoto said many patients have mental illnesses and become substance abusers, which can send them Hill’s way.
Yamamoto hopes to open a drop-in center for mentally-ill patients in downtown Hollister in January that would teach them basic daily activities the general population take for granted.
Preparing daily meals, writing a resume and learning how to act during a job interview are just a few of the skills health professionals would provide, he said. .
“It’s the jewel of the whole program,” Yamamoto said. “If they had enough support in the community they may not need to be locked up. With the appropriate support and intensive care management they could live on their own.”
