More cities join Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

San Mateo has received about $186,000 to date from prior opioid settlements. The previous funds have been used primarily to fund a mental health clinician position which is part of the police department’s quality-of-life unit — which also comprises homeless outreach workers and a domestic violence advocate.

“I want the funds to be as impactful as they possibly can,” San Mateo Police Chief Ed Barberini said. “Substance use, particularly opioids, is often part of the equation, so the whole goal of the team is to provide a service-oriented approach.”

In 2021, the county signed a nearly $7 million contract with StarVista to establish its own crisis response program, in which one full-time clinician works within the police department of the county’s largest cities — San Mateo, Daly City, Redwood City and South San Francisco — and responds to calls for service that involve a mental health crisis. Sometimes an officer joins them but in many cases, clinicians are able to de-escalate the situation on their own.

Barberini said the clinicians lessen the workload for law enforcement officers and help individuals in crisis receive assistance and resources from a behavioral health expert.

Though the county’s initial pilot program ended, all four cities decided to extend their program mostly using their own funds. And other cities, such as Menlo Park, East Palo and San Bruno now have similar programs.

A report from Stanford’s Gardner Center saw an overall 16% decrease in 5150 holds between the end of 2021 and end of 2023, the pilot’s start and end dates. It also saw a 17% reduction in mental health-related 911 calls.

But since the department has secured other funding sources for the clinician role, Barberini anticipates shifting the settlement funds toward another position that would be dedicated to youth prevention and drug education.

“For next fiscal year, we’d like to invest those funds into our youth service unit, a position that will focus on drug education and prevention,” Barberini said. “We wanted it to go toward preventive services.”

Some cities, such as Belmont and Half Moon Bay, have opted to direct their settlement funds to the county, which have more robust behavioral health programs.

In total, the county has received about $11.4 million in settlement funds to use for remediation and treatment efforts.