The West Columbia Police Department receives more than 36,000 phone calls a year, about a third of which are directly or indirectly related to a mental health or substance use crisis,  Rhonda DiNovo, field supervisor, clinical assistant professor and master’s of social work program coordinator at the University of South Carolina, told the Chronicle.

The department’s ongoing partnership with USC’s College of Social Work is aimed at responding to these calls more effectively. For seven years, the West Columbia Police have used interns provided through the outreach program to help with calls that have to do with mental health issues, substance use or homeless and elderly community members.

One of the main goals of the program is to reduce recidivism by reducing contact with law enforcement.

“You've got a police department that's not focused on ‘We're gonna put you in jail because you're having this issue,’” Boyce said. “We’ve got a police department that has a program that's focused on trying to plug resources into you to help you through your situation and to get you back on your feet and give you a jumpstart.”

The program employs students to help people dealing with its target issues, positioning the social work interns as their point of contact after police response.

Marion Boyce, West Columbia police chief, told the Chronicle that the partnership is like a marriage.

“If you're going into the social work profession, you have a heart for service. if you're being called as a law enforcement officer, you have a heart for service.” he said. “And those two main courses of service are what drives each of these professions. Now how they serve and how we serve are sometimes vastly different.”

During the first year, they set a foundation for the program, collecting data and conceptualizing what social workers’ role would be in relation to the department and figuring out what the goals of the program would be, DiNovo said.

Interns were implemented in the program starting in the second year. According to DiNovo, USC’s master's program has more than 400 students each needing 900 hours of active field placement. Through the West Columbia program, they gain about 500 hours between the fall and spring semesters.

At present, the program only functions during the USC school year, with between one to four interns participating at a time. DiNovo told the Chronicle that they have had police departments across the state interested in implementing similar programs, including the Cayce Police Department.

She said the focus of the service is to review call logs and identify those that are related to mental health or substance use. Boyce said interns have access to incident reports along with body cam and police car footage.

The interns reach out and try to connect these individuals with resources that can help, following up to see if they followed through on using them or if they need additional assistance.

“This is so important to me because oftentimes people with substance use disorders are stigmatized,” DiNovo said. “We know that, disproportionately, people with substance use disorders are incarcerated for issues that really need to be treated by medical help rather than criminal justice help.”

The program leans on the department’s extensive network to connect people with services offered by a multitude of nonprofits and state agencies. Some of the groups they have interfaced with include Oliver Gospel Mission, His House, the state Department of Mental Health, Mercy Housing, along with food shelters and others.

When it comes to the homeless and elderly population, the program helps connect those without shelter or food to places that can help. Members of the elderly community receive many forms of assistance, including transportation, general house and lawn repair, and Meals on Wheels, among other resources.

According to DiNovo and Boyce, the program was created when the county jail began facing overcrowding issues. DiNovo said the jail was going to start charging municipalities for the people they had housed there.

“It just seemed like it was a really good fit that they could really benefit from the services that a social worker could offer, particularly with some of the calls that they were receiving,” she said.