It was at least week’s Toledo City Council meeting that Toledo resident Mark Doland got up to speak. Doland, a community advocate for the Marshalltown Police and Community Team, or MPACT, talked about the possibility of such a program coming to Tama-Toledo.

Doland has over 25 years of experience in the mental health field, from being a corrections therapist to performing crisis outreach in Cedar Rapids. Although this was his first appearance before the Toledo city council, Doland has been campaigning for a co-responder program for some time, including having conversations with Mayor Sokol and previous Toledo Police Chief Nathan Shepard, all before he went to work for MPACT.

“I think the concept of co-responders is a concept that has taken off nationwide,” Doland said.

The job of a community advocate is wide ranging, as they deal with not one problem but many called upon them.

“When law enforcement responds to any kind of situation, sometimes it’s not necessarily law enforcement related,” Doland said. “There’s sometimes counseling sessions going on in police cars and in the police department that wouldn’t have ever happened if I wasn’t there.”

Whether it’s homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, elder assistance, family conflict or mental health, the list of situations that a community advocate deals with goes on and on.

Not only as a community advocate and mental health worker but as a resident of Toledo, Doland would like to see a program like MPACT come to Tama County.

“The public needs to have some trust built up and some confidence built up in the police department again, and so I think that moving forward with community relations, I think it’s a good thing to have somebody with a background in social services to be able to advocate for both sides,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of a co-responder program coming to the community, Toledo Police Chief Quigley said, “We will be researching different resources and trainings to see what would be most suitable for our agency.”

“As with anything, we are always looking for ideas and areas of improvement. This is evident with the local discussion of possibly partnering with Tama and STC with an SRO (School Resource Officer) position,” Mayor Sokol said.

Autumn Drewelow, another community advocate with MPACT, sat down with the News Chronicle for a more in-depth interview.

1. What exactly is MPACT?

MPACT (Marshalltown Police and Community Team) is a community policing co-responder and

mobile crisis program created by Chief Michael Tupper of the Marshalltown Police Department

and David Hicks, Director of YSS of Marshall County. After calls for police reform after the

murder of George Floyd in 2020, Chief Tupper approached David Hicks about possibly

embedding human services professionals with the police department to assist in matters that

are not directly related to law enforcement.

911 can often be the catch-all in crisis situations not related to law enforcement, fire, or medical emergencies. This means that our first responders are being directed to calls that they may not have the training, experience, or time to assist with compared to someone who works in human services or social work.

However, sometimes law enforcement calls have an element of social need to them that would

benefit the involvement of a human services or social work professional, such as mental health

concerns, substance use, homelessness, family conflict, and more. MPACT’s involvement is

never a punishment, and our services are voluntary – we never stick around unless people want

us to.

Our goal is to connect people to resources in the area that can help them bridge the gap

they are currently experiencing and reach the other side. I look at us as resource navigators and

networkers who help divert people from the criminal justice system whenever possible.

MPACT has also received recognition for its contributions.

MPACT was named the 2021 Program of the Year by the Iowa City and County Management Association. The Marshalltown Police Department will be receiving an award for outstanding leadership and innovation for the implementation of MPACT by the Iowa Police Chiefs Association during the spring conference that runs from May 24 through 26. The State of Iowa sees this as the future of policing.

2. What exactly is YSS?

YSS stands for Youth and Shelter Services. In the 1970s, George Belitsos opened Iowa’s first

emergency shelter for youth in Ames and eventually established YSS as a nonprofit, seeking to

meet the needs that its name suggests. However, we’ve expanded over the years to offer

various programs that can help people across the age spectrum, not just youth. Along with YSS

of Marshall County, there is YSS of North Iowa (which is in Mason City), YSS of Hamilton County,

YSS of Story County (which is where YSS Headquarters is located), YSS of Boone County, and

Iowa Homeless Youth Centers in Des Moines. YSS of Marshall County is celebrating its 40th

anniversary and YSS as a whole celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2021.

3. How long has MPACT been going?

MPACT has been running for about 2.5 years now. We began responding to calls in February

2021.

4. What is your position?

Mark Doland and I are MPACT Community Advocates. We respond to calls for service when

asked to by police officers or dispatch.

5. What kind of situations does MPACT usually deal with?

One of the many benefits of MPACT is that we don’t fall under one general service umbrella.

No two days are the same. Our calls generally pertain to domestic violence, elder assistance,

family conflict, homelessness, juvenile issues, mental health, sexual assault, and/or substance

use.

Sometimes we respond to high-stakes situations with police officers and other times we sit and talk with someone who has had a bad day and just needs a shoulder to lean on for half an

hour. MPACT Community Advocates are ready and able to handle a wide range of community

needs as they arise.

6. Do you think MPACT is a good idea for the Tama-Toledo area?

A police co-responder program would benefit all communities if it is done with the community’s

best interest in mind. Though Chief Tupper and David Hicks laid the groundwork for the

program, it really took shape once a task force was formed to identify Marshalltown’s top

issues and how MPACT could address them.

What makes MPACT successful is the way it’s tailored to meet Marshalltown’s needs. For something like MPACT to be effective in the Tama- Toledo area, people from all kinds of community sectors (policing, mental health, education, etc.) will need to collaborate in the early stages of program development.

7. Do you think MPACT itself may be the program that would operate in Tama-Toledo, or

would it be a separate program inspired by MPACT operating in Tama-Toledo?

While YSS of Marshall County offers other services in the Tama-Toledo area, MPACT is built to

support the Marshalltown area. Even though Marshalltown and Tama-Toledo are neighbors,

bringing a copy-and-paste version of MPACT to Tama-Toledo without considering how service

needs might differ would not be considered best practice.

For Tama-Toledo to have a successful co-responder program, they will need to come up with programming and processes that fits their city, police department, and community needs, and make the financial investment to sustain it long-term.

8. Do you think with the whole Officer Howe situation in Toledo that MPACT would be a

help?

Yes. Many communities are being forward-thinking about how community policing can help

improve relationships between police departments and community members. Most

importantly, these improved relationships can yield better, safer outcomes for all involved.

MPACT’s relationship with the Marshalltown Police Department and community members is a

testament to their support for this program and the good it has brought to Marshalltown.

Because of their trust in us, we have been able to intervene in many situations that could have otherwise ended poorly. Over two years later, people are still as excited about this program as when it was first announced. Our work would be difficult to do without their support.

9. As someone from the area with family in the area, would you yourself want a program like MPACT in Tama-Toledo?

Absolutely. Unfortunately, many of the stressors affecting people in Marshalltown aren’t immune to people in Tama-Toledo either. As someone who grew up in Marshalltown and spent

a lot of time in Tama-Toledo with family, I think a police co-responder program like MPACT

could provide an additional layer of support to the people in the area just trying to get by.

10. What are MPACT’s call rates or how often does MPACT get called out?

Data from January-April 2023

104 calls for service with 273 contacts.

167 follow-ups with 283 contacts.

o 5 MPACT contacts accounted for 70/167 (41%) of follow-ups.

103/104 (99%) of calls accepted MPACT’s involvement.

92/104 (88%) of officers returned to the field after their initial response.

Data from April 2023

33 calls for service with 62 contacts.

-Mental health needs accounted for 8/33 (24%) of calls.

-Homelessness accounted for 6/33 (18%) of calls.

-Juvenile issues accounted for 6/33 (18%) of calls.

-Family conflict accounted for 5/33 (15%) of calls.

-Mental health, homelessness, juvenile issues, and family conflict accounted for: 75% of total calls for service; 40 follow-ups with 59 contacts.

-5 MPACT contacts accounted for 14/40 (35%) of follow-ups.

33/33 (100%) of calls accepted MPACT’s involvement.

31/33 (94%) of officers returned to the field after their initial response.

MPACT usually receives one or two calls for service a day. When we are not on scene, we are

doing follow-ups with others that we are currently helping. Marshalltown Police Department

personnel have reported that many frequent 911 utilizers no longer call the police daily or

weekly once they are connected with MPACT, ultimately freeing up time, money, and

resources.

In MPACT’s early days, Chief Tupper spoke about how the police can’t arrest their way out of

these issues. Sometimes jail is a short-term solution to a larger issue that requires a different

approach to find lasting results, and the best way to find those results is by being direct,

intentional, and ready to collaborate with the community.