How can I get intervention for former military member without involving local law enforcement?

A "welfare check" will involve the police. Unless they're being outwardly abusive, social services will not put much effort into it --they're more interested in children and the elderly. Here's some ideas:

1.) Go to the local law-enforcement. Explaining the situation, appeal to speak to a fellow veteran to take the welfare check. There shouldn't be any reservations in calling the police.
2.) Stalk the vet's FB page. Find out who s/he served with --reach out to those guys.
3.) Dovetailing w/ CPT Bruce Rodgers' suggestion, there are a myriad of mental health organizations, specific to vets, with "hot lines." They may be able to suggest some avenues as well.

Prayers.

I would say contact the local VFW

I am the Director of a non-profit program called Veterans' Works located in Idaho, we work with Veterans with PTSD as well as social skill issues. With that said, if this Veteran is at a point of harming himself or others there is no time to waste, you need to step in and offer assistance and be the friend you sound like you already are. Having a LEO who is also a Veteran check on him is a great idea.
I would be glad to speak with him and if he is a candidate for our program I would be happy to have him join us. Our program is free of charge to the Veteran and their family.
I can be reached at [login to see] or at [login to see]

I say only go to the police as a last resort. The presence of police (unpredictable armed elements) will IMMEDIATELY escalate the situation. I can pretty much guarantee you it will end with at best an arrest - even if for "community safety reasons" - or worse, a shooting. It has happened before with mentally disturbed children getting shot and killed by police after their parents called them in to help with simple unruliness. In this day and age law enforcement are like pit bulls: you never know if they will be friendly and playful then suddenly get aggressive and bite - and the blame for the situation will ALWAYS go to the victim. Additionally, the police involvement will likely negatively impact their career, reputation, security clearance (if they have one), etc. That person will very likely resent your involving the police, feeling betrayed. Police are not psychologists - don't ask them to be.

I agree with one of the contributors - try calling the VFW and they likely have a chaplain. He/she may be able to help or point you in the right direction. Also, be very wary of involving psychologists, as many have a habit of handing the situation over to the police behind your back in order to raid the house and take away any weapons that may be present. Most psychologists, by virtue of their college affiliation, are liberal-leftist and anti-gun/anti-military. You have to do your research and find the right ones to help.

VA's national hotline number is: [login to see]

Try a pastor/clergy. Many have training in this sort of thing and have the clergy privilege - have the ability to keep things confidential in most instances.

Walk them into the closest VA MH clinic for an immediate appointment. If that won't work out then police to check on the soldier

For any of you who may be wondering I've passed your information on to him. I heard back from one person that he had contacted them. Thank all of you for your offers of support and suggestions.

I spent 37 years in law enforcement. I dealt with a lot of similar situations, some involving veterans, others not. I spent many years as a hostage negotiator, until I started getting promotions up into the command ranks. Some of my HNT experience was with armed, barricaded criminals, but much of it was with armed and/or barricaded people who needed mental health help. One of my/our biggest fears was 'suicide by cop' situations, where someone would point a gun at officers or even shoot at officers, trying to get police to shoot them. I lived through a couple of those situations, eventually detaining the person without any shots fired by police. (My time in Vietnam seemed to help me build rapport with other veterans.)

I don't know where your friend is, but in most places there are mental health services available. Most city/county/state health departments have Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) who are well qualified to screen people for mental health issues and get them the appropriate help (the ones I worked with all had at least a Master's Degree in their field). The availability and quality of those services varies from place to place, but where I worked they were good.

We (police) generally responded in just a few circumstances.
- Someone was violent (assaultive or combative) and needed to be physically restrained (something that MHPs aren't supposed to do).
- Someone was armed and threatening to harm themselves or someone else.
- Someone was at immediate risk of harming themselves or someone else, needing immediate intervention, and it would be a while before an MHP could get there.
- Sometimes the initial report was vague and the MHPs were busy, so they would ask police to 'check it out' to get more details to see if the MHPs were needed.

We (police) have the authority to detain someone until MHPs can get there, or to detain and transport someone to a place where an MHP can meet with them. In my department (a large department in a major metropolitan area), those transports were done by ambulance, not in a police car. Those people are ill; they are not criminals.

Wherever your friend is, I suggest that you reach out to the VA, the city/county/state health department, and mental health 'hot lines' to see what services are available. Law enforcement is ready to help, but we don't have the training in that area that MHPs have, and we are just a conduit to get people to someone else who can give them the help they need.

Best of luck to you and to your friend. He/she is fortunate to have a friend like you who cares enough to help them.

CPT (Join to see)

I can understand why you don't want the police involved. There's all these stories on the Internet about police going to do a welfare check and end up shooting the person they're checking up on.

With that said, does the vet have family or battle buddies who can talk to him/her? Preferably fellow veterans as I can say from personal experience that I would much rather talk to a fellow vet if I was having problems.