Please see the following message from Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett.

 

This is going to be hard. Harder than the last time. Hard to talk about and think about, because it keeps happening. But we need to talk about it. We need to think about it. We need to do something more.

 

You see, last Tuesday evening, as I do most Tuesday evenings, I was sitting at the City Council meeting. The hot topic was short term rental enforcement and there was a lot of emotion. It got uncomfortable a few times. And it’s an important discussion that impacts the entire community. It felt heavy. But as often happens, something far more impactful would happen in our community that night.

 

Just five hours later, our first responders were dispatched to one of the worst calls imaginable. A local youth who was missing and suicidal. Our police officers and fire fighters worked with a parent who was facing the worst thing a parent can face. Something my wife and I know all too well. In the early morning hours of that Wednesday, our community lost a youth to suicide. Again. Suddenly short-term rentals, lift ticket taxes, and vacancy taxes didn’t seem quite as important.

 

As a community leader and father, I’m frustrated. I’m angry. I think the emotion that caught me most off guard was relief. I was relieved that I was not working. That I did not see this horrible thing. I don’t know if I could handle that again. I know our first responders cannot keep doing it. One of the police officers who responded has seen more suicide in his short time here than I saw in 21 years working for a large police department. These calls are incredibly impactful to our public servants and the entire community, and I’m frustrated that we have not done more for those struggling with mental crisis and behavioral health.

 

Earlier this year, our school district shared the movie, Paradise Paradox, which discussed the mental health crisis in mountain towns and highlighted the efforts of the Eagle County behavioral health system. It was a great first step. But the discussion has stalled out. It always seems to stall out. There is a crisis, then it passes, and we go about our lives. We talk a lot, then we move on.

 

A couple months ago, I had the privilege of meeting with Avon Police Chief Greg Daly and learned more about how the Eagle County community came together and partnered with the Vail Health foundation to start the “It takes a valley” campaign to raise 100 million dollars to transform the behavioral health system in Eagle County. I also had the opportunity to tour the Precourt Healing Center, a state-of-the-art behavioral health facility, just before it’s opening. That process took nearly two decades and the suicide of a teenager to get momentum. We cannot afford to wait that long. We cannot afford to lose another youth so senselessly.

 

Since then, I’ve met with many community leaders and have found myself an outspoken advocate for behavioral health reform in Routt County and in Steamboat Springs. I’ve seen how some of our outstanding non-profits work to combat suicide and the behavioral health crisis. But we’re not working together. We need to do more. We have the map already laid out for us. We do not need to recreate the wheel. We have a successful model in a neighboring community. We need to act.

 

So, I ask, once again, what will it take? Another child taking their life. Another father, mother, brother, sister, friend gone? Another community leader? Another tragedy? What will it take for this community to come together and make meaningful change? It’s time to move forward and to unify. I know we can do it. Prove me right.

 

Guest Column; Feb. 10, 2025 — Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett speaks out and challenges local leaders to do the same