Too many adolescents and adults with mental illnesses have potentially
dangerous contact with the police. That contact comes in a number of
forms, such as the person with mental illness being a victim or a witness
of a crime, being the subject of a nuisance call, committing a crime
themselves, or having a mental health crisis and being in danger of hurting themselves
or others.
All too often they end up in the criminal justice system. As a result,
approximately 25% of the U.S. prison and 60% of the jail population
has a serious mental illness. In cities with a population of 100,000
or more, approximately 7% of all police contact involves people with
a mental illness. People with a mental illness are twice as likely
to be arrested for repeated behavior.
The increased contact
is due to the fact that people’s
behaviors, which are symptoms of their illness, are more likely to
trigger a police response rather than a mental health response. Unfortunately,
the only easy way to obtain help for a mental health crisis is to
call 911. Typically, police are then sent out to deal with the mental
health crisis, resulting in a possible arrest rather than an appropriate
intervention.
Thus it is critical that police officers understand the biological
nature of mental illness and know how to quickly assess and if possible
de-escalate the situation. Poor understanding and ineffective responses
often lead to an escalation of the crisis and the person ending up
in jail instead of an appropriate mental health care setting.
In response to some very tragic incidents, relatively new models to
educate police officers have emerged. One of the best is CIT (Crisis
Intervention Team), Developed by Major Sam Cochran in 1988, the CIT
program is a community collaboration, not just a training program,
where officers are taught about mental illness and are trained both
to prevent and de-escalate crises.
Studies have repeatedly shown that specialized training for police
results in better outcomes for everyone. CIT produces the lowest rates
of arrest and the highest rates for bringing people in for treatment.
There are also decreased rates in officer injuries for mental-health
related calls. Minneapolis has a CIT program and the police department
has encouraged officers from around the state to participate in their
training.
Yet CIT is only effective when law enforcement, the mental health
system and various advocates collaborate to make sure that when officers
divert someone, the treatment system is willing and able to provide
appropriate treatment. This means that in order to reduce the criminalization
of mental illness, we also need to build up our community mental health
system.
Minnesota is currently
developing mental health crisis teams which can respond to people
in their own homes. Each regional team can provide stabilization
services, consultation by phone or in person, and assessment and
intervention. Currently, there are multiple phone numbers to call,
making these important new services potentially difficult to access – especially
in a crisis.
Legislation introduced this year could make more funding available
for CIT. In addition, knowing that for some communities, particularly
in rural areas, a 40-hour training session is very difficult, the legislation
could also fund a four-hour training that would cover basics of the
CIT program, including: types and forms of mental illness, including
their symptoms; the impact that mental illnesses have on individuals,
families, and communities; and legal issues pertaining to the mentally
ill, including civil commitment and data practices.
Other legislation would require the Department of Human Services to
create a task force to determine if one mental health crisis number
could be developed and used throughout the state. Funding the development
of more Mental Health Courts would also serve to divert people away
from jails and into treatment.
The Consensus Project,
which is the premiere report from the Council on State Governments
on how to “decriminalize” mental
illness, points out the importance of providing a user-friendly entry
to the mental health system. In the end, the best way to prevent
a criminal justice response is still to reduce the stigma surrounding
mental illness, eliminate any barriers to accessing treatment, fully
develop crisis services and community supports, and ensure that our
first responders (police, EMTs, etc.) understand mental illness and
how to de-escalate a crisis.
We have much to do in
Minnesota to prevent a criminal justice response, but we are making
progress. ![]()
