Dedicated team within Pasco Sheriff's Office deployed to critical situations involving mental health
Intervention deputy convinces barricaded man to disarm
Detective Anthony Graham knew he wasn’t getting through to a man who was reportedly armed and barricaded in a home in New Port Richey. “I give you my word, I just want to talk to you,” Detective Graham said, but he knew it’d have to be more than just his word.
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - It's the new normal. More deputies and officers are dealing with mental health calls. They get so many Pasco County has a new task force to deal
with them.
Body camera video shows one such incident when a deputy diffused what could have been a dangerous situation.
Detective Anthony Graham knew he wasn’t getting through to a man who was reportedly armed and barricaded in a home in New Port Richey.
“I give you my word, I just want to talk to you,” Detective Graham said, but he knew it’d have to be more than just his word.
“I just felt like at that point we had to get inside to talk to him,” Graham told FOX 13 News.
Detective Graham is a part of Pasco’s new Behavioral Health Intervention Team, which was launched back in June. They don’t take on every mental health call, but focus on the folks who have been Baker Acted multiple times.
Graham finally gained the man’s trust and was able to enter the home.
For Sheriff Nocco, it was a true success story for their new task force.
“Those types of situations, they’re not robots. They’re human beings. I’m not on scene with them all the time, they’re the ones out there doing that type of job. But if they see that type of situation, they have to improvise. He did the right thing. In his case, he saw what he needed to do, and it ended up well,” Nocco said.