AMHERST — Even with limited calls for the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service, and the department losing half its staff in recent months, the director is confident that a base is being built for success.

“I believe that while things are slow, that we are moving in a positive direction,” CRESS Director Camille Theriaque told the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee last week, asking for “space and grace” so the department can continue to evolve.

“Change takes time, and though it is slow, it is moving forward,” Theriaque said.

During a monthly update on Sept. 11 to the committee that provides oversight and a sounding board for the department, Theriaque reported that CRESS had 219 calls in August, about a quarter of which were community outreach. Six of the 219 calls, or 7%, were for mental health issues, while nearly half of the calls were related to previous engagements with people.

Theriaque said she is still working with emergency dispatch on finalizing standardized operating procedures for sending out CRESS responders, meaning they are still not directly making primary responses. “We are working with the dispatch to get all those done,” Theriaque said.

Standard operating procedures, she said, are also needed for how responders handle each call.

But Theriqaue informed the committee that the fully staffed department, with eight responders forming four multiracial teams, has been depleted for a variety of reasons, with one person moving elsewhere in town government, one to a private organization in town and two to other professional pursuits.

For committee members, there is concern that CRESS continues to be at a starting-out point, more than two years after being launched around Labor Day in 2022.

“It seems like we're going backwards rather than going forward,” said committee member Everald Henry.

“It continues to be a start and stop with CRESS,” said committee member Deborah Ferreira. “For me, as a community member, it is frustration.” 

Ferreira said over two years into the existence of CRESS, she has wondered when the issues with emergency dispatch would be resolved. Ferreira said CRESS needs to be an alternative to police, not just a social service agency.

Theriaque said she appreciates the frustration, but the work on standard operating procedures and building relationships with other departments, including police and fire, takes time. “It is very frustrating and I understand that,” Theriaque said.

Her obligation is to work work collaboratively with other departments, though that has been complicated by the retirement earlier this year of Michael Curtin as the head of dispatch, now run by his successor, Jason Rushford.

“Unfortunately, they're not getting done in a timeline that you or I would like to see get done," Theriaque said.

There also has to be clarity in legalities, such as for mental health calls and determining whether the person is known to police and paramedics. “It's not clear what calls we can go to,” Theraique said.

Ferreira said she wants to have more understanding why CRESS isn’t responding to non-criminal, nonviolent incidents, such as noise complaints involving college students.

But Theriaque said under Massachusetts General Law, noise complaints will remain under police purview.

Henry wondered if the department has sufficient support, with a full-time benefited position that offers a starting annual rate of $47,646.

Theriaque said she is confident that the resources are in the town budget to hire new responders. What she is creating will ensure that when needing to hire replacement responders, the entire department doesn’t have to start over again, and there is annual CPR and trauma-informed training. Theriaque said she is also hoping to have a clinician with lived experience working with the department.

“You cannot build off of something unless you have a good base, and that is one of the things that I am very excited about, is to have a firm base, and to make sure that things are moving forward from this base,” Theriaque said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.