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Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , February 1 , 2017

PUBLIC AGENDA

WEDNESDAY , FEBRUARY 1 New Windsor Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 555 Union Ave ., New Windsor .

THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 2

City of Newburgh Conservation Advisory Council , 6:30 p . m ., 123 Grand Street . Town of Newburgh Planning Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 1496 Route 300 , Town of Newburgh .

MONDAY , FEBRUARY 6

DEC Public Meeting , Beaver Dam District PFCs update . 7 p . m . Washingtonville Middle School Auditorium , 38 West Main Street , Washingtonville .

TUESDAY , FEBRUARY 7 City of Newburgh Planning Board Work Session , 9 a . m . Code Compliance Dept . , 123 Grand Street .

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The Mid Hudson Times , ( USPS 000-5947 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , NY 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , NY . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , NY . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Mid Hudson Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , NY 12550

By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewpapers . com

Former New Windsor Police Chief Michael Biasotti has been chosen to serve on the National Advisory Council for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ’ s Center for Mental Health Services . Biasotti brings 40 years of law-enforcement experience to the position .

The four-year appointment will see Biasotti weigh in on national policies related to substance abuse and mental health . Biasotti is a nationally-recognized expert on how severe mental illness overlaps with the criminal justice system .

“ Law enforcement deals with untreated , severe mental illness much more frequently than psychiatrists do ,” Biasotti said . “ I want to bring in that perspective and the perspective of families and the obstacles they run into trying to get help for loved ones , who , in some cases , don ’ t know they are ill .”

“ About half of the seriously mentally ill don ’ t know they are ill ,” Biasotti noted . “ At any given time , 20 to 25 percent of the general population have some sort of diagnosable mental illness ,” he said , although some of these illnesses are temporary owing to major life stresses like death and divorce .

“ Two percent of that population has severe mental illness – schizophrenia , bipolar disease , major depression ,” said Biasotti . “ Of those people , half seek care and half do not .”

When a person with severe mental illness is picked up by law enforcement , they are often brought to a hospital emergency room . But , said Biasotti , many hospitals don ’ t have the resources to provide the proper care .

“ We ’ re cutting hospital beds across the country ,” said Biasotti . “ So , what happens is police pick someone up and the hospital will have 10 to 15 beds available … a decision is made in the ER and some people are discharged .”

And , they sometimes end up in jail , he said . “ It ’ s not that police want to arrest them , but the hospitals have said there is no place to put them ,” Biasotti explained .

The mentally ill person then enters the criminal justice system . But , Biasotti maintains , “ jail is not where you should go for treatment when you ’ re mentally ill , it is not the place to stabilize before returning to the community .”

Michael Biasotti testifies before Congress in 2014 .

Biasotti is a strong supporter of mandated “ crisis-intervention training ,” also known as de-escalation training , for new police recruits . “ Right now , domestic-violence training is mandatory , use-of-force training is mandatory ,” he said . “ However , something as important as de-escalation training , which police use on every call they go on no matter what , is not required .”

He insisted , “ the first thing an officer

Former New Windsor Police Chief Michael Biasotti has been appointed to serve on SAMHSA ’ s Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory Council . should do when they arrive at the scene of any incident is de-escalation . That should be number one , whenever possible .”

The Police Chiefs ’ Association of Orange County Police Academy currently provides each class of new police recruits with crisis-intervention training . It is the only police academy in the state and one of a few in the country that does , Biasotti said . The City of Newburgh Police Department provided its officers with crisis-intervention training a couple of years ago , he added .

Biasotti , who chairs the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police Committee on Untreated Severe Mental Illness , testified before the U . S . Congress on violence rates among people with untreated , severe mental illness and the need for more hospital psychiatric beds in 2014 .

Biasotti points to the 21st Century Cures Act , signed into law by President Barack Obama in December , as a source of hope for the severely mentally ill and their families . Among its provisions , the bill provides funding for treatment of opioid drug addiction , early intervention to treat serious mental illness and making more psychiatric beds available in hospitals .

In the coming years , the advisory council is expected to re-write protocols for the National Incident Management System , which provides a nationwide framework for multi-agency responses to emergencies , including natural disasters and terrorism .