From our partners at WOOD TV:
Kent County is getting a new way to help with people who commit crimes because they struggle with mental health problems.
A $1.2 million grant is paying for a new 24/7 crisis center so mentally ill offenders don’t have to be booked into the jail. It’s also funding training to help officers de-escalate situations before they become dangerous.
Earlier this year, Kent County sheriff’s deputies say they were forced to shoot and kill a mentally ill man who was threatening them. Just last week in Oceana County, a man admitted to driving into a store in Hart. He’s the same man who drove into the U.S. Coast Guard post in Grand Haven a few years ago and was found legally insane. There are many more minor crimes that don’t make the news.
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