(Feb. 19, 2016) Two recent developments in California and Washington state highlight the impact that the policies of our failed mental health system have on the day-to-day work of law enforcement. By failing to help those most in need, our mental health system has effectively made police and sheriffs the front lines of mental health care in America.
In Washington state, a federal monitor reported being impressed with the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) efforts to implement Crisis Intervention Teams and training throughout its ranks. Per the report, the influx of CIT-trained officers has led to low levels of use of force against individuals in crisis and strong efforts by SPD officers to guide people in crisis into the social service system, as opposed to arresting and jailing them. We are pleased to see Seattle embrace crisis intervention training as a means of deescalating crisis situations and diverting those in need away from the criminal justice system whenever possible.
While we are pleased to see the progress of Seattle’s law enforcement, one aspect of the report highlights a troubling reality – Seattle’s law enforcement is still being asked to deal with individuals in crisis far too often. Per the report, the SPD is on track for around 10,000 crisis contacts with individuals with a mental illness annually, or about 27 a day. For a police force of only about 1,300 total officers, that means that, for many officers, assisting those with a mental illness amounts to a full-time job.
In San Diego, the local chapter of the ACLU recently joined other organizations to call for the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into alleged incidents of excessive force by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) against people suffering a mental health crisis. In response to the letter, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said that “the number of mental health calls her department receives has skyrocketed” and that San Diego Police Officers “responded to over 18,000 mental health calls for service last year alone - a 100% increase in the last seven years.”
Theresa Bish, former chair of the San Diego County Mental Health Advisory Board, addressed the mental health system’s culpability, saying, "some of the liability rests with county Mental Health Services." She pointed out that the man whose death at the hands of SDPD occasioned the letter was known to the county, but a lack of services and legal tools for his family meant he went on-and-off treatment. San Diego’s newly passed Laura’s Law provisions might have prevented the incident and subsequent shooting, but weren’t in place at the time.
We applaud communities across the country for embracing important measures like CIT training to ensure law are as equipped as possible to deal with individuals in the throes of a mental health crisis. But even as we do, we must always recognize that the real solution is to hold mental health systems accountable and ensure those who need care receive it before they are in crisis and before law enforcement is needed.
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