Sheriff Embraces Mental Health Approach Change

Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx remembers the issues he has seen over the years with mental health needs in the community.

If an individual would need an emergency commitment, for example with relatives fearing the possibility of suicide, the approach in place for decades was to have a deputy show up and take the person into custody.

That came with problems.

Putting the individual in the back of a squad car might have taken the person out of the immediate risk of self harm, but it was by no means a good solution.