Full Notification

Four East San Gabriel Law Enforcement Agencies and Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health team up to implement the East San Gabriel Mental Health Evaluation Team.

In response to a significant increase in field contacts associated with those suffering from a mental health crisis, law enforcement agencies from the cities of Azusa, Covina, Glendora and West Covina have collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to form the East San Gabriel Mental Evaluation Team (ESGMET) which will provide mental health services to citizens in the Eastern San Gabriel Valley.  

The ESGMET is intended to provide a cooperative and compassionate team, consisting of a mental health clinician and a law enforcement officer, to assist those suffering from a mental health crisis in the participating cities. Where a typical response by law enforcement officers would be to help facilitate a short term resolution to those experiencing a mental health crisis, the ESGMET will be able to provide more effective short term and long term solutions to the individual and their families by providing crisis intervention, case management, homeless outreach, resources and referrals.

Chief Kim Raney of the Covina Police Department said “For the last several years, front line law enforcement has become first responders to more and more incidents involving those in our communities in need of mental health services. By having a mental health clinician embedded in our patrol cars 40 hours a week, this is a tremendous opportunity to provide services to those in need.”

The ESGMET started on November 16, 2015 and is operational 40 hours per week.  Each law enforcement agency will commit a police officer to the ESGMET team for a minimum of 10 hours per week to team up with the designated mental health clinician.  The cost of the ESGMET will be shared among each participating agency and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.