North Texas initiative providing law enforcement with mental health assistance expands statewide
A local initiative program designed to provide law enforcement with mental health assistance will expand statewide.
The Texas Blue Chip program started in North Texas. Each chip covers the cost of an appointment with a mental health provider.
The initiative, modeled after an Arlington Police program, was initially introduced after a gunman shot and killed eight innocent people at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 26, 2023.
The mass shooting still weighs heavily on the minds of the 14 Allen Police officers who were the first to arrive on scene that day, killing the gunman and tending to the wounded.
"We've used the Texas Blue Chip program at a very high level," said Allen Police Chief Steve Dye.
The Texas Blue Chip Program is an extension of the Texas Law Enforcement Peer Network, designed to provide confidential no-cost clinical resources for law enforcement officers.
"What we love about it is the officer can take a blue chip, we have them throughout the building, they can take that blue chip and anonymously go and receive the help that they need," said Chief Dye.
Each blue chip has a QR code on the back which provides officers with a list of mental health clinicians.
"They pick their provider, and they don't have to report that to their insurance, they don't have to report it to their employer," explained B.J. Wagner, Senior Vice President of Health and Public Safety at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
The officer's name is kept confidential and so is the name of the police department.
The program started at the Arlington Police Department under then-Police Chief Will Johnson to empower officers to honestly assess their mental wellness.
"We really just wanted them to be able to access help without any fear, anxiety or stress about it," said Johnson, who is now the Chief Special Agent with BNSF Railway Police.
It worked.
Statistics show Texas recorded the highest number of law enforcement officer suicides nationally in 2022, with a total of 16 lives lost.
After the program launched in North Texas, that number dropped to four the following year.
"We have to do more," said Johnson/
The Texas Blue Chip Program is now statewide thanks to funding from the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Allen Fund.
"Sometimes it's the traumatic events like the mall shooting, and sometimes it's just the everyday stressors of police work," said Chief Dye.
Chief Dye says he knows the Texas Blue Chip program is working at his department.
He has not lost any of the 14 officers who were involved in the Allen Premium Outlets Shooting.
He's hopeful other departments will see similar success.