Have you met Officer Park? You may have seen him around town interacting with the homeless in our community. Officer Park and his partner, Richard Rustanto, a licensed mental health clinician from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, make up our Montebello Mental Health Evaluation Team (MMHET).
Officer Park and his partner provide intervention and targeted case management services to individuals with mental illness. He and his partner prepare the appropriate documentation to assist in placing persons with mental illness into facilities that can provide the necessary mental health services or the right community resources that they may need. MMHET offers mental health support, field crisis intervention, and proper psychiatric placement in situations involving patrol officer contacts with citizens who have a mental illness. This co-response model aims to reduce incidents of use of force, reduce hospitalizations, and avoid unnecessary incarcerations of severely mentally ill citizens.
Officer Park is also the department Homeless Outreach officer. He utilizes state and county resources to provide essential quality of life services like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care for the homeless. Officer Park works with the Montebello Community assistance Program (MCAP), Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA), and Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Homeless Outreach Services Team (LASD HOST).
Officer Park and his partner have assisted over 70 people living on the streets by finding them shelters either directly or with the assistance of LAHSA if you see Officer Park out on the streets, wave and say hello.