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Week of May 12, 2022
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 102 | ISSUE 13
County mental health program making strides Thousands of contacts made in first years BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When a man in a rural part of Arapahoe County called 911 for help during a mental health crisis, he asked for a sheriff’s deputy to take him to a facility that could treat his condition. But when the deputy patted the man down, he found the man had brass knuckles — a prohibited weapon — and the man received a ticket. The man, who has a wife and kids and had served in the military, was facing jail time. But the staff at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office reached out to the right officials and gave the man a referral to mental health services, and his criminal charge was eventually dismissed. “That was a really good story we recently had,” said Julie Jacobs, manager for the sheriff’s office’s Behavioral Health Response Program. Jacobs said the story is about an east Arapahoe County man, who spent about three months going back and forth with the court system earlier this year. Deputies can’t ignore evidence of a crime, Jacobs said, but the mental health staff at the sheriff’s office tries to put the focus on getting help for people in mental health crisis instead of putting them on a path to jail. That staff includes a team of mental health “coresponders” who react to 911 calls alongside deputies to handle mental health-related situations with the delicate nature
A color guard ceremony at the Englewood police station opened the main part of the Celebrate Englewood event on May 7. PHOTOS BY SCOTT GILBERT
‘Celebrate Englewood’ lives up to its name
A
sunny, hot and windy Saturday was the setting for Celebrate Englewood, a chance for residents to get acquainted with the employees who keep the city running, to check out the heavy equipment and other vehicles in the city’s fleet, and to enjoy a sense of community. The May 7 event at the Englewood Police plaza and Denny Miller Field featured “Touch-a-Truck” SEE ENGLEWOOD, P12
Puppies up for adoption roughhouse at the Celebrate Englewood event. Their booth was a partnership of Humane Society of the South Platte Valley and Englewood Code Enforcement, the division of the Englewood Police Department that handles animalcontrol duties.
SEE HEALTH, P10
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 | SPORTS: PAGE 26
CHOREOGRAPHED COMEBACK
Ballet and opera look to begin anew post-COVID
P16