LEADERSHIP
CHIEF COUNSEL ’ S CORNER IMPROVEMENT OF POLICE RESPONSE TO PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
Richard A . Carothers General Counsel Carothers & Mitchell , LLC
In this year of 2020 , all of us have been overwhelmed by a multitude of social , political and health issues , taking turns to dominate our individual lives as well as the headlines . As usual , law enforcement continues its role on the front lines of almost every societal issue and problem . The definitions and responsibilities of “ Serve and Protect ” are ever-increasing . As the bright light of the headlines and outcry over the shootings and force-related deaths of black men by police , other practices with law enforcement have received renewed if not continued attention .
One of the most significant of these is law enforcement ’ s response to persons with mental illness and / or developmental disorders . We are all aware that mental illness is a disease which is often accompanied by homelessness , domestic violence , drug and alcohol abuse , the inability to control one ’ s behavior , and ultimately , to obey the law . And as well , there is increasingly limited availability of
10 WINTER . 2021 mental health illness treatment and certainly too few institutions that house and treat the mentally ill . In fact , the largest three providers of mental health services in the United States are New York City ’ s Rikers Island Jail , the Cook County Jail in Chicago , and the Los Angeles County Jail . Assuming that a significant percentage of the population have some form of mental illness ( some have estimated 1 in 5 ), police officers will inevitably come in contact with such individuals every day . It is therefore not surprising that some 10 % of 911 calls involve persons with mental illness , and that mental illness is a factor in up to half of all police shootings . This year brought increased public concerns with the police response to persons who are mentally ill and public and legislative outcry to improve the response . Many of the media reports negatively focusing on police practices with regard to the mentally ill are taking the position that this is an issue that simply has been ignored by law enforcement agencies and officers .
It is simply incorrect to assert that law enforcement has not responded to the acute need for programs and training for responding to issues with persons with mental illnesses until recently . Indeed , many police departments in the United States adopted training programs for crisis intervention teams ( CIT ) based upon a police-based first responder program of pre-arrest jail diversion for those in mental illness crisis . Such programs , using the “ Memphis Model ” for crisis intervention , originated in 1987 as a result of a young black man with a history of mental illness being shot and killed in an encounter where when he refused to put down a knife . After serious protests , the City of Memphis , in coordination with the National Alliance on Mental Illness , the NAACP , law enforcement , community mental health professionals , and community groups worked together to find a new approach . That combined effort led to the CIT program . Under this approach , specially-trained uniform patrol