(Jan. 27, 2015) There is no question that law enforcement officers are increasingly the ones responding to people with mental illnesses who are in crisis. 
I remember one story in particular. Late one evening multiple motorists swerved to avoid a person walking down the road into oncoming traffic. The police were called and when they arrived they found a man standing on a bridge guardrail. Apparently the voices in his head told him to jump off the bridge. Two officers, the only two officers on duty in this particular jurisdiction, spent several hours with one person getting him one step closer to a better quality of life.
I also know of one individual in particular who in the last three and a half year period, local law enforcement has dealt with 301 times in addition to arrests ranging from disorderly conduct and harassment to criminal mischief and assault. Known as a “frequent flyer,” hospital staff and law enforcement defuse the situation and are often dealing with her again hours later the same day. Quiet times with her are when she is incarcerated and not roaming from house to house and bed to bed. We should not be using jails and prisons as a way to treat people with serious mental illness.
“Police and sheriffs are being overwhelmed dealing with the unintended consequences of a policy change that in effect removed the daily care of our nation’s severely ill population from the medical community and placing it with the criminal justice system," said Chief Biasotti, a member of the Treatment Advocacy Center Board of Directors. "This policy change has caused a spike in the frequency of arrests of severely mentally ill persons, prison and jail population and the homeless population …(and) has become a major consumer of law enforcement resources nationwide.”
Congressman Murphy’s ”Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act” for mental health reform contains important provisions to send care and treatment of the seriously mental ill back to the mental health system while eliminating the need for law enforcement to co-manage the responsibility. The bill sends a strong message: a message of necessary improvements to the treatment of serious mental illness.
These improvements will begin assisting in the reduction of law enforcement, court and jail stress by sending it back to the medical professionals. This will let the criminal justice system devote less crisis response time to the mental health system while allowing for more criminal justice representation on policy boards. The discipline of law enforcement alone pours countless resources into interacting and investigating, often times leading to arresting and paperwork filing before participation with attorneys, judges and jails.
One of these improvements is increasing the use of assisted outpatient treatment, also known as AOT, or Kendra’s Law in New York. Having seen the results from Kendra’s Law myself, I know that AOT helps lessen the burden of untreated serious mental illness on law enforcement, it decreases the chances that an officer will be hurt in the line of duty and decreases the chances that the person with a mental illness or any bystanders will be hurt. AOT will lead to a better quality of life for everyone. In fact, the world’s largest law enforcement organization, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has endorsed court-ordered treatment in the community for at-risk individuals with severe mental illness.
I applaud Congressman Murphy for recommending specific measures improve and focus on those who are in need of treatment.
CHIEF MARGARET RYAN
PAST PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE
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