Shreveport Police Lt. Amy Bowman speaks next to Chief Wayne Smith as (seated, left to right) Mayor Tom Arceneaux and CADA director Janet Miller look on. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save About two years into her nearly three decades with the Shreveport Police Department , now-Lt.
Amy Bowman responded to a call she feels she wasn't trained to handle. A man having a mental health crisis was suicidal, and he eventually shot himself. "I spent many sleepless nights wondering how that might have been different if I had more training or if there had been someone else to respond," she said Monday during an event at LSU Health Center in Shreveport.
Bowman became an advocate for a new approach to SPD calls involving mental health , and Monday's signing of an official partnership between the department and the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse brought that to reality. Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith joined Janet Miller, executive director of CADA, in signing paperwork outlining the approach the two agencies have taken to calls where officers discover mental health issues or drug abuse rather than criminal activity. "We ask a lot of our police, but our police are not mental health professionals, and they're not psychologists," Mayor Tom Arceneaux said.
"This is already in effect and is already having a positive impact on our community." Peer counselors and mental health professionals from CADA began to aid first responders in northwest Louisiana in e.