A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
DANCE:
continued from Page A1
Though he said his first re-
action to being asked to dance
was “total panic,” Elfering en-
joyed his performance, engag-
ing the crowd and impressing
the judges — who praised his
showmanship and camarade-
rie, both with the audience and
with his partner.
Elfering raised money for
Pregnancy Care Services,
which offers support to young
families and single women who
need help during pregnancy.
Beas-Fitzgerald wowed the
crowd with her strong dance
skills and stage presence, danc-
ing the high-energy Polka with
her partner Joey Williams.
Her charity, the Umatil-
la-Morrow Hispanic Schol-
arship Foundation, which en-
courages local students to stay
in school and pursue college.
Judges were floored by Be-
as-Fitzgerald’s dance ability
and her enthusiasm.
“We all felt like we were
part of your dance from your
interactions with the audience,”
TRAINING:
continued from Page A1
can escalate quickly. “It’s not
meant to be tactical training,
but educational — to get of-
ficers aware of what can be
in play, to be on guard for is-
sues in the immediate area.”
But Edmiston said it can
be a challenge to deal with
those kinds of issues — both
for officers and others.
“We try to address those
things and do a good job,”
he said. “But at the end of the
day, it’s not illegal to suffer
from mental illness. That’s a
tough pill for people to swal-
low.”
Eynon said officers pre-
pare to encounter any type of
crisis.
“I don’t know that we
see one more than others,
except maybe drug or alco-
hol-related things,” he said.
“We don’t always know if
it’s drug-induced psychosis,
the result of long-term drug
Hansell said.
The crowd loved the danc-
es, cheering mid-song and clap-
ping along to songs they knew.
Audience members also en-
joyed a performance by several
local children, as well as one by
the professionals of the Utah
Ballroom Dance Company,
which paid homage to a vari-
ety of dance styles and iconic
films — including “Singing in
the Rain” and “Moulin Rouge.”
“I was shocked to win,”
Smith said after the announce-
ment. “I just came out to have
a good time. Everyone who
danced was phenomenal.”
Smith said he felt raising
money for the warming station
was important now more than
ever, with the unusually cold
winter, and thanked all who
contributed to the event.
Smith had spent several
hours this week driving back
and forth between Salem and
Hermiston for rehearsals — but
said it was worth it.
“It was a blast,” he said.
The event is organized by
the Desert Arts Council, and
was sponsored by the Herm-
iston Breakfast Kiwanis Club.
use or mental issues first and
then self-medicating with
drugs or alcohol.”
Eynon added that before
the department started doing
crisis intervention training
they dealt with mental health
cases a little differently —
with more frequent bookings
so patients would be safe
from physical harm. The
training helps officers handle
the situation before it gets to
that point. and avoid using
force.
“Are we seeing reciprocal
results? I’d say yes. I think
our officers are able to de-es-
calate or defuse a situation,
and show people they’re try-
ing to help,” Edmiston said.
Hermiston police have
dealt with their share of
mental health-related is-
sues. On Dec. 31, 2012, the
department had its first offi-
cer-involved shooting where
a suspect died. A man robbed
a bank, and then went across
the street to a crowded li-
quor store. He demanded
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
FROM PAGE A1
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Rep. Greg Smith dances and his partner, Trina Morago, react to being named winners of Dancing with the Hermiston
Stars on Saturday at Hermiston High School.
a bottle of liquor, and then
drew a black pistol BB-gun,
which officers thought was a
semi-automatic weapon. Of-
ficers fired, and the man went
down. He died later that day.
“It’s our belief based on
the investigation and state-
ments that the individual suf-
fered from mental illness or a
short-term crisis,” Edmiston
said.
He recalled how his offi-
cers reacted to the incident,
and some of the dangers with
the training.
“If there’s a concern with
this training, it’s that (offi-
cers) take their guard down
to talk with the person, and
you have to be able to do
both — talk with the person,
but keep your guard up —
you never know what could
happen.”
Kevin Campbell, chief
executive officer of Greater
Oregon Behavioral Health,
Inc., agreed that police in-
volvement should not be the
long-term solution to mental
health crises.
“People call the police
because they’re afraid an in-
dividual may kill themselves
or others,” he said. “There’s
a lot of fear associated with
people having a psychotic
condition. But we need to
think of mental health crises
as medical conditions rather
than law enforcement condi-
tions.”
Carol Eck of Lifeways, a
mental health services pro-
vider in Umatilla County,
said mental health counsel-
ors from the organization are
always available to deal for
such situations.
“I have Masters-level
clinicians on-call 24 hours a
day,” she said. “We go out on
scene with the officer if they
request it.”
She praised officers’ han-
dling of mental health cases,
citing the effects of crisis in-
tervention training.
“They’re very adept,” she
said. “Very good at working
with individuals with men-
tal issues, patient and able to
decide the best place for that
person to go.”
Eck said one of the draw-
backs to the system is that if
a person needs to be hospital-
ized for a psychiatric service,
they have to go to the emer-
gency room — and Oregon
has a lack of emergency beds,
which means those people are
often kept waiting.
Kimberly Lindsey of
the Morrow County-based
Community
Counseling
Solutions said her organi-
zation has worked closely
with local law enforcement
for several years to provide
mental health services to the
surrounding areas.
“If it’s brought to law
enforcement’s attention that
there’s something that looks
like a mental health issue, we
get called to go to the scene,”
Lindsey said, adding that
her staff never go to a scene
without law enforcement of-
ficials.
“They keep the perim-
eter and us safe, if a person
is dangerous or violent,” she
said.
“I can’t say it’s cut down
on crises — it’s not really a
preventative measure,” Lind-
sey said of the collaboration
with officers. “But I think it
reduces the trauma for both
individuals and officers.”
Edmiston said he’d like
to see more short-term care
options for people going
through crises.
“The answer is not to ex-
pect more from the police,
yet tie the hands of police to
do their job,” he said. “‘In
eastern Oregon, where re-
sources are limited, it’s going
to require significant invest-
ment on the part of the state.”
He said he hopes fund-
ing for mental health care is
something state lawmakers
will consider seriously in
their next session.
“There’s got to be a right
formula out there that hope-
fully legislators can figure
out,” he said.
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