We are really lucky that we have such a great Sheriff here at Cooke County that deeply cares about and understands mental health!

Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington and CEO Sylvia Cave of Texoma Community Center briefed us at the 12 June 2025 Mental Health Forum on a new “clinician-and-deputy” crisis-response team and a jail-diversion pilot that starts in Cooke County this summer. You can read some of the details in this KXII news piece.

Why it matters

• Mental-health conditions are dramatically over-represented in the justice system: about 44 % of people held in local jails have a diagnosed mental illness, compared with roughly 18% of adults in the general population.
• National research further shows that specialized mental-health courts and diversion programs cut re-offending by roughly 40% and lower public-safety costs.
• Access is scarce. Texas ranks 50th for adult mental-health care access; nearly 23% of adults with a mental illness lack insurance.
• Workforce gaps are huge. 246 of 254 Texas counties are federal mental-health-professional–shortage areas, and 170 have no psychiatrist at all, or about 11,800 residents per psychiatrist statewide.
• Crisis lines under-used. Texas ranks 46th for 988 calls, with only 18.5 contacts per 1,000 Texans in 2024, suggesting many crises still reach law enforcement first.

Given those numbers, simply jailing every person in crisis is neither humane nor evidence-based. Cooke County’s data-driven plan (pairing deputies with clinicians, expanding crisis-line capacity, and steering people toward treatment) mirrors best practice and promises real public-safety dividends.

We left the forum encouraged by the clear logic and hard data the Sheriff’s Office and TCC shared. Cooke County Democrats stand ready to work alongside anyone committed to a safer, healthier future for our rural, hard-working neighbors. 💪