Virginia launched a new system on December 1 for improving the response to mental health emergencies. The Marcus Alert system kicked off in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Prince William County, Bristol, Washington County, and five counties in the northern Piedmont. The statewide framework is named for Marcus-David Peters, a young Black Biology teacher fatally shot by Richmond police in 2018 amid a behavioral health crisis. The system was designed to avoid sending people in behavioral crises to state mental hospitals, private emergency rooms and juvenile detention centers.
