Citrus County Sheriff's Office launches campaign focused on mental health, substance abuse issues

INVERNESS, Fla. - Millions of Floridian struggle with mental health issues. That's why a new Citrus County Sheriff’s Office campaign is focusing on how mental health and substance abuse issues are often linked to crime.

The sheriff’s office is launching the "It’s All Connected" campaign next week.

"Mental health, substance abuse issues, domestic violence issues are all truly connected," Citrus Sheriff Mike Prendergast said.

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The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office created its Behavioral Health Unit in 2020. At that time, the sheriff said a number of mental health-related and substance abuse-related incidents were up from 2019.

"If we can intervene early enough, we don’t have people who get on that wheel that’s perpetuating itself," Prendergast said.

The campaign is focused on expanding and raising awareness about resources like the Behavioral Health Unit. Prendergast said their goal is to get to the root causes of a lot of crime.

Deputies respond to calls about domestic violence, burglaries and overdoses often. The sheriff said a lot of people they interact with are also dealing with mental health issues or addiction.

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"And we want to stop that," Prendergast said. "We want to break that cycle, and we want to get people the help that we can get them to as quickly as possible."

Prendergast said criminal charges and jail time aren’t the solution to every crime. He said some people need more than the judicial system.

"A lot of people who are experiencing depression use narcotics to cope with the way that they’re feeling, and not getting resources or the proper means of getting treatment," Sgt. Allison Perry, with CCSO's Behavioral Health Unit said. "So, that’s where the crime is correlated to it."

Sgt. Perry said she used to be a road patrol supervisor, where she would interact with many people at their lowest moments.

When deputies respond to a call now, the Behavioral Health Unit follows. The unit is made up of a melting pot of resources, including detectives, victim advocates and substance abuse advocates.

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"We respond to the overdoses and then the behavioral health unit goes and follows up behind with our substance abuse advocates to provide them further services, treatments, navigation to other resources for help, so they can end the cycle of what they’re experiencing," Perry said.

The sheriff’s office said the number of incidents in which the Baker Act was enabled for adults is down from 815 in 2020 to 427 in 2023, and for children, it’s down from 298 in 2020 to 157 in 2023.

The sheriff’s office said the number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses are down from last year. The number of incidents in which the Marchman Act was enabled for adults and children is down 15% from 2022, according to CCSO officials.

"If we can help some of those who are right here in our community, they don’t get part of the judicial system, they don’t get a criminal record and, perhaps, we can get them onto the path where, through the right type of treatment programs that are available right her in the community or in some of our surrounding communities, then they’re not going to be part of the system ever again," Prendergast said.

By reaching people with the right help, Prendergast said they can not only lower crime, but give people a better chance at success.

"Traditionally, people say, ‘Oh that’s not really a law enforcement function,'" Prendergast said. "But it really is, because if it’s not about prevention, then it has to be about apprehension. So if we can prevent it in the first place, everybody walks away a winner at the end of the day."

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You can call the CCSO Behavioral Health Unit at (352) 726-1121. The unit can also help in situations involving adults or children with special needs and adults with cognitive diagnoses like dementia.

Prendergast said they’ve also applied for a grant that would provide funding to add dozens of deputies to the sheriff’s office.

You can find more information about the Behavioral Health Unit, and substance abuse, mental health and victim advocate resources here.