LEADERSHIP
It can be effectively argued that the overall law enforcement response to mentally ill and developmentally challenged persons has been significantly improving in the quality and content of the programs and of the training available such as with the CIT model . Law enforcement has also partnered with community health providers , volunteer and contract clinicians , street mental illness “ triage ” operations , community group discussions , and in general , the pursuit of more empathetic and effective approaches to the mentally ill . However , as we previously addressed in this article , it has been reported that due to the almost total breakdown of mental health treatment and facilities , in the United States the police have become responders of last resort , and the jails have become the mental hospital of last resort . Between 2015 and 2018 , it has been reported that approximately 1,000 people in the United States were fatally shot each year by police officers during that time , and people with mental illness were involved in approximately 25 % of those fatalities . It also has been estimated that a third of 911 calls involve mental illness .
While none of these statistics is a meaningful indicator of
14 WINTER . 2021 what actually occurred within a particular interaction with law enforcement and the mentally ill , it does reflect ongoing problems and the continuing need for training and additional programs . It is positive that in 2019 , the University of Memphis CIT Center reported that there were 2,700 active CIT programs within the United States . However , it also noted that this figure represented less than twenty percent of the total number of police agencies . Again , there are numerous variables as to how to evaluate such statistics , but one oft-noted element needed is that addressed in House Bill 760 , under which a police officer has the authority to take someone into noncriminal custody to convey them to a healthcare facility and just as importantly , that the receiving facility is a non-refusal , rapid drop off behavioral health center .
I must conclude this discussion with the mention of the proverbial pachyderm in the local government room . There are almost always limited resources for the provision of local government services , including important law enforcement services . It was estimated that at the end of 2015 , there were 18,000 police agencies in the United States . Approximately
50 percent of those agencies have fewer than 10 officers and 75 percent have fewer than 25 officers . In addition to the limited budgets that smaller cities and counties have , such departments also have the problems not only of funding but implementing significant amounts of training and the necessary personnel to have CIT-trained officers available for each shift . Even larger departments with more resources have difficulty providing and implementing the training required to make CIT successful . It is difficult to locate needed state and federal funding for such programs . In fact , the Behavioral Health Link program discussed above has quite limited funds to provide dedicated programs .
Two things are certain . The responsibility for responding to calls concerning persons with mental illnesses most often falls on law enforcement .
Notwithstanding the needs , it is rare for police respondents to have resources to continue to expand the programs . The other certainty is that the continuous improvement of law enforcement ’ s response to mentally ill persons is both a goal and a necessity for police agencies in this country and remains a significant challenge .