photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger gives a presentation to city council about the police department’s Crisis Response Unit and its approach in dealing with cases of mental health and substance abuse disorders in the community.

WHEELING — Embedded peers — or Peer Recovery Support Specialists — are helping the Wheeling Police Department take great strides in the ongoing response to the community’s opioid crisis.

Utilizing money from West Virginia’s Opioid Settlement Fund will help bolster a crisis intervention program in the police department that has already proven to be making an undeniable impact, according to Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger.

The police chief gave members of Wheeling City Council an overview of the department’s plan to utilize an Opportunity Grant award from the West Virginia First Foundation as part of the agency’s distribution of the biggest chunk of the state’s Opioid Settlement Funds — a portion aimed at recovery efforts through prevention programs, treatment services and recovery support for the opioid epidemic.

“The police department applied for and received a grant in the amount of approximately $463,000 for a Crisis Response Unit,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “In West Virginia — and probably in the region — it’s a cutting-edge approach by the police department in dealing with mental health issues and substance abuse issues within our community.”

Last month, Schwertfeger announced that these funds will be used to support the new Crisis Response Unit and to expand its staff. The Opportunity Grant was part of the first rollout by the West Virginia First Foundation from this pool of opioid settlement money, and Wheeling was the only local agency to receive a grant from the initial round of distributions announced late last year.

“I’m really happy to talk about this because we’re already making huge impacts,” Schwerfteger said.

Schwertfeger said two embedded peers have already been working as civilian staff members within the police department since May of last year. He said this was a “cutting-edge” approach to crisis intervention, and the WPD was not only the first in the state but one of the first in the country to develop this program within the department. The chief noted that he has been asked to give presentations in other communities about the intervention unique unit and the Wheeling Police Department’s related initiatives.

“Those two embedded peers are employees of First Choice Services out of Charleston,” he explained. “This grant will additionally fund two professional mental health social workers — one bachelor’s level and one master’s level.”

Katie Hughes, who has worked as the housing liaison for the city of Wheeling and lead agency coordinator for the Northern Panhandle Continuum of Care, will be the supervisor in that unit, Schwertfeger said.

“The grant has multiple components,” the chief explained. “The larger, far-reaching component involves a state-wide approach.”

Each region that applied for this grant funding has a representative for a Crisis Intervention Training or CIT collaborative, Schwertfeger said.

“I’m happy to say that the city of Wheeling Police Department is a leader in the state in that Crisis Intervention Training, which we’ve been doing since 2015,” he noted. “We’re happy to have four or five instructors currently who travel around the state training law enforcement, fire personnel, dispatchers and others.”

The training and approach to dealing with crisis situations focuses on de-escalation, the chief said.

“This helps police officers, in our case, recognize mental illness and substance use disorders,” he said, adding that it also puts an emphasis on teaching officers how to find the appropriate resources that are needed in certain situations, including how to make referrals and to whom referrals should be made.

Crisis Intervention Training has been proven to be effective in significantly reducing use of force within law enforcement agencies during crisis interactions, Schwertfeger said.

Figures released last month of the 2024 Wheeling Police Department crime statistics show that the Crisis Response Unit is having an impact on drug-related incidents in the city. Crime data for 2024 — compared to 2023 — showed a 37% reduction in overdoses, a 46% reduction in overdose deaths and an 18-to-20% reduction in street-level drug offenses in the city.

There will be a Crisis Response Unit member or members available on-call 24 hours a day, officials noted, and Quick Response Teams are available to take action during overdose situations.

“I’m very proud of the unit and the staff that we have in place, and the good things that we’re doing,” Schwertfeger said.

“I want to thank you and the team — those statistics are really impressive,” Mayor Denny Magruder told the police chief.

Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler last summer proposed a new approach to the city’s homelessness issue by establishing a Homeless Engagement Assistance and Resource Team — or a HEART Team — similar to one established in Colorado to help connect individuals in need with the appropriate resources. Seidler said the Wheeling Police Department’s Crisis Response Team is doing that and more.

“My vision was small compared to what you’re doing,” Seidler told the police chief. “I just want to thank you for putting together this team. For anybody who thinks for a second that we don’t care or that we’re not putting our feet on the ground and doing what we’re supposed to do — this team is absolutely doing it. I think you’ve chosen a great leader in Katie Hughes to run that department, and I’m really proud of the work you guys are doing.”

Councilman Dave Palmer described the approach as being “proactive” and “not criminalizing” but instead, adjusting to society’s needs when it comes to individuals in crisis.

Wheeling has received West Virginia Opioid Settlement funds in different waves over the past year. The city was awarded $726,000 from the state’s initial distribution of opioid settlement money earlier in 2024, a sizable distributions from this allocation were made to the city’s fire department and police department for equipment purchases and other related expenditures. Some of these funds were also redirected to local service agencies for various purposes related to battling the opioid crisis in Wheeling.

Herron said the city will be receiving approximately $650,000 in a second wave of opioid settlement funds from the state, and another significant allocation to the city was also recently confirmed.

“In addition to that, we’ve received another $247,000 — which is above and beyond the West Virginia First Foundation’s 22% allocation across the state,” Herron said, noting that this pool of funding will be distributed under the direction of city council in the near future. “So we do have some additional funding for the opioid crisis.”