In the wake of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, there are renewed calls for a focus on mental health.
Friday night, NBC 5 rode along with a new unit from the Fort Worth Police Department that is working to identify potential threats, to get those with mental illness the help they need and to prevent the next mass tragedy.
In an open office, in Fort Worth's central district, you'll find six officers who hit the streets every day with a huge job.
"Of course the goal is to prevent Columbine," said Officer Landon Rollins, of the department's new Mental Health Crisis Intervention Team.
The unit is tasked with tracking people with a known mental health history who could become a threat. They do home visits to make sure mental health patients are going to the doctor and taking their medications.
"How much did you sleep last night?" Rollins asked a woman on one recent visit.
The officers follow each case closely.
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"The line is when she's a danger to herself or others," Rollins said.
It can be a hard line to find. But at least now Fort Worth police has a team dedicated to looking for the signs.
"We don't know if we succeed," Rollins said. "I don't know if we're going to keep somebody from shooting up a school or a church, which is great, that's what we want."
The unit can confiscate weapons when someone is clearly in mental crisis. In one recent case, they took 39 guns from one home.
"Rifles, shotguns, pistols, it was everything," Rollins said. "So that's a concern for us, because if he hits that breaking point, which every human being has, he's ready for war."
They're protecting the public and getting help to some very sick people, like a known paranoid schizophrenic who thinks his neighbors are out to get him and wants to confront them.
"We're going to go back and talk to the doctor. You're not in any trouble," Rollins told the man.
Instead of arresting people, they can take them directly to John Peter Smith Hospital for mental health treatment, filling a need the average beat cop can't.
At the end of the day they know they can't reach everyone.
"But I feel that this is a very important job that every department needs," Rollins said.
Since forming in September, the Crisis Intervention Team has responded to more than 2,300 calls, including 744 follow-ups, 122 suicide attempts and 35 welfare checks.
In 2016 and 2017, Fort Worth police answered 9,443 calls for service involving suicide attempts or people showing signs of mental crisis. In the past there was no police follow-up after a person was mentally detained, unless criminal charges were pending.
The team takes referrals from every other unit in the department asking to track people that concern them. Due to the high demand, they're hoping to double the unit's size from six to 12 officers.
