Cops and the Mentally Ill

I was a Los Angeles Police Officer for 14 years. In 1989 I shot and killed a schizophrenic man named Donald Jamme in Hollywood, CA. Mr. Jamme thought he was a cyclops and had disemboweled his apartment building manager who had come to his door to evict him. It was a sad situation for everyone involved, especially for Mr. Jamme, who in my opinion never should have decompensated to the point where he got to without someone having been there to intervene. Unfortunately this situations have continued happening over the years since deinstitutionalization occurred. When will we wake up to the fact that we threw the baby out with the bathwater on this one. We need to have a State Psychiatric Hospital system where the disenfranchised can be cared for and monitored until they are truly ready to be released into the community. What good is freedom if it all it provides is a life on the street, with victimization, street drugs, crime and violence, all the while the mentally ill individual becomes a criminal and scores out prison sentences by accumulating convictions. The Mental Health Courts are a separate but equal system of jurisprudence that will someday be viewed as having been unconstitutional because of the basic procedural shortcomings that cause mentally ill defendants to be coerced into accepting plea bargained convictions. I am in a Forensic Psychology Master's Progam today. I am also now a mental health consumer myself. Postraumatic Stress Disorder is a reality of life for those of us who have to kill in the line of duty. I plan to someday treat patients with the diagnosis. I hope to make a difference before the folks on the street shooting it out with the police are our returning war veterans. This is a tragedy that must be avoided at all costs.

Police officers definitely need better training, but I can't blame them for shooting when they are threatened. I live in Ohio, and we recently had a similar situation. A man stopped taking his medication to control schizophrenia, and a judge ordered the police to pick him up and take him to a mental health facility. When they arrived he rushed them with a knife,and they shot and killed him. The officers have come under fire from some groups in the area, which I don't agree with. Yes, public servants (police officers, EMTs, and firefighters) should have better training to deal with mentally ill people. But if a person rushes you with a knife, you're going to protect yourself. I think we've gotten so caught up in patients' rights that we have forgotten that police officers--productive members of society that serve to protect us--have the same rights. They have families waiting for them at home, too. For every neglected patient story, there's also a story of people hurt and/or killed at the hands of the mentally ill.

It does seem rather ludicrious that a such a big ole former marine would need to shoot such a little kid five times in the back to subdue him, when he had his taser right there. And as I've said previously, there must not have been enough political capital in it for the prosecuting attorney to really build a solid case - you know, those little old Irish Immigrants don't make good news stories.

TheVigil - I have a bipolar uncle, and cousin. Neither of the refuse to take their medication now, but have before, and on occaision one of them has threatened suicide, and has ended up in the hands of the police, and has been forcefully committed. Threatening to do harm to yourself or others is the fastest way to have your rights revoked. The person in question - a phd candidate! And like so many others, full of the belief there is nothing really wrong with him and that medicine is bad (when lucid).

Law enforcement because of low pay and burnout attracts the lowest common denominator. Do you want to be a cop? I don't. I do think that tasers ought to be the first line of defense (I know there are sev. wrongful death lawsuits pending but c'mon, heart attack or gunshot - pick) for any police department.

Most law enforcement professionals do the a good job with the chronically mentally ill - in smaller towns and cities, the chronically mentally ill are usually well known to the police and the emergency room staff. And while extra training and resources for the police are always helpful, why not focus on getting the mentally ill the help they need?

Everyone knows that local emergency rooms are strained to the max, and psychiatric inpatient facilites are faced with chronic personnel and budget shortages, but the true problem is the lack of outpatient resources for follow-up care, and the lack of funding - insurance - for medications and therapy.

One of the reasons so many state budgets now spend more on prisons then on education or health is because we have so many people in jail with untreated addiction, serious mental illness, or both.

If we offered these people treatment, instead of incarceration, we wouldn't need so many jails.

Many police departments and Mental Health Agencies such as, NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally ILL), are getting REAL help from the CIT (Crisis Intervention Training), developed in Memphis TN. The help is for Mental Health consumers, the public, AND Police Officers! The CIT PROGRAM has been HUGELY successful in BETTER protecting ALL persons involved in a mental health crisis. Many states and counties all across the UNITED STATES are sending VOLUNTEER police officers to the training AND BUILDING A PROGRAM THROUGHOUT COUNTIES TO INTERVENE, PLACE, AND TREAT INDIVIDUALS IN CRISIS.
I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT BUCKS COUNTY, PA HAS BEEN TO MEMPHIS, TN THIS SUMMER TO FIND OUT HOW IT ALL WORKS SO THAT WE IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA CAN HANDLE THIS SOCIETAL CRISIS IN A HUMANE, AND RESPONSIBLE WAY!!!
AS THE POST BY "THE VIGIL," 7/31/2008 HAS TOLD A HORROR STORY ABOUT A BIPOLAR FRIEND, I TOO HAVE WATCHED AS MY BIPOLAR SON FALSELY CONFESSED TO A DOMESTIC ABUSE CHARGE THAT WAS FABRICATED BY HIS GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE SHE WAS AFRAID. A PA STATE TROOPERS TOLD HER MY SON "LOOKED LIKE" A PSYCHOPATH AND WOULD KILL SHE AND THE REST OF HER FAMILY. HIS PSYCHIATRIST WOULD SAY THE OPPOSITE BUT NEVER HAD THE CHANCE. IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET HELP FOR MY SON, HIS GIRLFRIEND, HAD CALLED THE AMBULANCE, BUT THE POLICE ARRIVED FIRST. THE POLICE DO NOT LIKE TO TAKE MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE TO THE HOSPITAL. THE POLICEMEN HAVE TO STAY WITH THEM UNTIL THERE IS A HOSPITAL BED AVAILABLE. IT IS VERY TIME CONSUMING.
THE STATE TROOPERS CALLED ME TO PICK UP MY SON AT THE BARRACKS. UNAWARE AT THE TIME OF THIS DYSFUNCTIONAL SOCIETAL PROBLEM, I ASKED THE OFFICER IF THEY WOULD MEET ME AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MY SON, SO THAT I COULD HAVE HIM COMMITTED AGAINST HIS WILL. DENIED. "OK,' I SAID, "I WILL PICK HIM UP AND TAKE HIM." I WAS TOLD, "NOT ANYWHERE AROUND HERE. " I SAID, "OK," I WOULD TAKE HIM TO ABINGTON HOSPITAL, NEAR WHERE I LIVE. AT THAT, THEY SAID HE WAS BEING ARRESTED NOT TO COME TO THE POLICE BARRACKS; THEY WOULD CALL ME AFTER HE WAS SEEN BY THE DISTRICT JUDGE.
HIS 'LAWYER" ADVISED HIM TO PLEAD GUILTY, AGAINST MY ATTEMPT TO GET HIM TO GO TO TRIAL, SO THAT THE TRUTH COULD BE TOLD. THE LAWYER SAID I WAS HURTING MY SONS CHANCES. OF COURSE, MY SON LISTENED TO THE LAWYER; AFTER ALL, THEY KNOW BEST DON'T THEY??
PLEASE FAMILIES, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS, OR ACQUAINTANCES OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE!!!!!!!!
THEY NEED YOU!!!!!!!!!!
NEWSWEEK NEEDS TO DO A HUGE INVESTIGATION INTO THIS EXCELLENT PROGRAM IN MEMPHIS TN, OR CAMDEN NJ, OR ANY OF THE THREE PROGRAMS IN PA, OR MANY OTHER STATES. THE CIT PROGRAM ADDRESSES ALL OF THE ISSUES COVERED IN NEWSWEEK'S ARTICLE.

The real problem is not the cops; it is the legal systems and a concept of patient rights. In an attempt to protect patients, our legal system is killing them. It boils down to this:

Most severely mentally ill people do not believe they are sick. The psychotropic medications have negative side effects so they stop taking them. The court systems will not step in until the patient "becomes a danger to themselves or others." At that point the judge orders them confined to a hospital or mental health facility just long enough for them to become stabilized. The patient is released on a 90 day out-patient commitment. Some time after day 91 they stop taking their meds and the cycles starts over again. Repeat this process for decades.

Most private mental health benefits are designed for people with depression or addictions. After a few weeks of hospitalization they stop paying benefits. The patient is stuck with huge medical bills that bankrupt them and they end up on Medicaid, and don't take this wrong, thank God for Medicaid.

This is the process for the luck ones who have families to help take care of them. The unlucky ones are homeless or in Jail. Even after a loved one has been deemed mentally incompetent and has a guardian, YOU STILL CANT FORCE THEM TO TAKE THEIR MEDS.

The courts need to force these severely mentally ill people to take their meds. Schizophrenics are not stupid evil people without skills. They are victims of their disease who are incapable of making sound decisions about their health care. As the son of a Schizophrenic who has been dealing with these issues my entire life, I can tell you the cops are the least of the problem.

How do you help a person that is hearing voices ?But beleives no medicine is needed ?

Yet another result of Reagan's "let the good times roll" policies. We have him to thank for closing the state and federally funded mental health facilities, depriving the economically challenged from receiving help,
Got to get rid of those entitlements??? you know.

I TOO HAVE WATCHED AS MY BIPOLAR SON FALSELY CONFESSED TO A DOMESTIC ABUSE CHARGE THAT WAS FABRICATED BY HIS GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE SHE WAS AFRAID. A PA STATE TROOPERS TOLD HER MY SON "LOOKED LIKE" A PSYCHOPATH AND WOULD KILL SHE AND THE REST OF HER FAMILY. HIS PSYCHIATRIST WOULD SAY THE OPPOSITE BUT NEVER HAD THE CHANCE. IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET HELP FOR MY SON, HIS GIRLFRIEND, HAD CALLED THE AMBULANCE, BUT THE POLICE ARRIVED FIRST. THE STATE TROOPERS CALLED ME TO PICK UP MY SON. I ASKED IF THEY WOULD MEET ME AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MY SON. DENIED. "OK,' I SAID, "I WILL PICK HIM UP AND TAKE HIM." I WAS TOLD, "NOT ANYWHERE AROUND HERE. " I SAID, "OK," I W TAKE HIM TO A HOSPITAL NEAR WHERE I LIVE. AT THAT, THEY SAID HE WAS BEING ARRESTED, NOT TO COME, THEY WOULD CALL ME AFTER HE WAS SEEN BY THE DISTRICT JUDGE. HIS 'LAWYER" ADVISED HIM TO PLEAD GUILTY, AGAINST MY ATTEMPT TO GET HIM TO GO TO TRIAL, SO THAT THE TRUTH COULD BE TOLD. THE LAWYER SAID I WAS HURTING MY SONS CHANCES. OF COURSE, MY SON LISTENED TO THE LAWYER; AFTER ALL, THEY KNOW BEST DON'T THEY? A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER I WATCHED AS HE WAS THROWN AROUND A COUNTY CRISIS ROOM BY FOUR POLICE OFFICERS, AFTER HE HAD TAKEN ALL OF HIS MEDICATIONS AND DRANK A FIFTH OF VODKA, IN AN ATTEMPT TO KILL HIMSELF. MY SON HAD FLAKES OF PILLS DRIED AROUND HIS LIPS. THIS WHITE, FLAKEY CRUST AROUND THE LIPS IS A SIGN OF OVERDOSE. I HAD GIVEN THEM INFORMATION ABOUT THE FACT THAT HE HAD TAKEN HIS MEDICATIONS, AND DRANK. I ASKED THE POLICE TO BRING HIM TO THE HOSPITAL SO THAT I COULD FILL OUT THE PAPERS, THE CRISIS INTERVENTION "SPECIALIST" DENIEDTHE INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT. HE WAS NOT SEEN IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM, NO BLOOD WORK WAS DONE, NO PSYCHIATRIST SAW HIM, NOT ONE THING WAS DONE TO PREVENT MY SON FROM DYING. IN JAIL BLOOD WORK FOUND THAT HE HAD TAKEN AN OVERDOSE, HE WAS GIVEN A BOTTOM BUNK, SO THAT "HE WOULD NOT FALL AND HURT HIMSELF.' THEY PUT HIM ON 15 MINUTE "CHECKS," IN A REGULAR CELL. APPARENTLY, HIS STOMACH EMPTIED ENOUGH SO THAT HE DID NOT DIE. I SPOKE TO EVERY AGENCY AND CONNECTION I COULD, THEY GAVE HIM THE CHOICE OF GOING THE HOSPITAL OR STAYING IN JAIL WITH NO MEDICATIONS. AFTER 5 DAYS HE BEGAN TO PUT THINGS TOGETHER. THE DAY AFTER HIS MEDICATIONS WERE STRAIGHTEND OUT, HE WENT TO COURT AND CONFESSED TO A CRIME HE DID NOT COMMIT.
PLEASE FAMILIES, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS, OR ACQUAINTANCES OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE!
THEY NEED YOU!

As a detention supervisor and a mental health peace officer, I totally agree that our jails and prisons are filled with people who society has no other place for. As a parent of a bipolar child, I floundered in the mental health system trying to get my child the help she needed only to be told "You have insurance, we can't help you." Today my child is 20 yrs old, married, uninsured and on the waiting list for state mental health assistance, a wait she was told may be up to a year. As an officer, I make it a point to see as many of our mentally ill inmates as I can during the course of my shift so I can build some kind of rapport with them in the event they have a crisis. I want them to know I am safe and I can get them help as long as they will try and work with me. Granted, in a manic or psychotic state, they are out of control, but there are times they will calm down as best they can and try and talk with me. Our government needs to make mental health care a priority because it will help to decrease our inmate populations that have swollen with people who should be in a treatment center, not a jail.