Ben Whitley

A woman is walking on a crosswalk at a busy intersection when it rains. She looked cold, but more importantly, she looked away. She had no shoes on her feet and her face was messy. In my opinion, she is in a mental health crisis.

The woman approached where I was standing, and I suggested she go to the Starbucks on the corner to find her shoes. At least there it will be warm. Instead of going in, she walked to the door and sat on the ground.

Someone must have called 911 because police and an ambulance with emergency medical technicians appeared. The EMT removed the stretcher from the ambulance while the police monitored the situation. The woman was put on a stretcher and paramedics put a blanket over her. In the process, the police are behind the scenes, leaving the EMT primarily responsible for the interaction. Since the woman appears to pose little risk to herself or others, this response seems appropriate.

In recent months, mental health advocacy group and other Attempts to limit the role of police in mental health crises. They point out that “mental illness is a health condition, not a crime, and health practitioners should respond to crisis calls, not law enforcement.” This is especially important because interactions between police and the mentally ill have sometimes proven deadly.according to National Sheriffs Association“Law enforcement is increasingly confronting people with severe mental illness [have led] Some unfortunate results. The most tragic of these were the officer-related shootings of mentally ill people, many of them fatal. “

The new 911 for the mental health crisis

Beginning July 2022, a new 3-digit phone number (988) will be implemented to address mental health crises, cases involving substance use disorders (SUD), and individuals with emotional and/or suicidal distress.Many people think that 988 can be used as Reimagining the foundations of crisis response systems.

988 origin as part of an effort to combat rising suicide rates. Calls to 988 will be directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) local call center. This 3-digit number is designed to make it easier for those in need to get help when they need it most without having to memorize the current 10-digit number.

For those in suicidal distress, simply finding someone to talk to is often enough to resolve the crisis.According to Suicide Prevention Lifeline, “a large body of research shows that people who make phone calls feel less easily, less depressed, less overwhelmed and more hopeful after suicide Talk to a Lifeline Counselor. ”

However, some cases are more serious in nature and the person answering the call may assess the person is at “imminent risk of suicide”. In these cases, the call may be forwarded to 911 and police may be dispatched to the caller’s location.Lifeline seeks to exploit Involuntary suicide prevention methods of last resort only.

According to Lifeline, “some crisis center staff reported reluctance to call 911 because of fear [that] local law enforcement officers [will] Inappropriate use of force, arrest, or other… unwelcome result against a caller in need of care. Critics of the NSPL, however, say crisis centre staff may “soon call the police…[because they get] really panic [and feel] Like if that person committed suicide, it would be their fault. This tension illustrates the potential push and pull that could exist between 911 and 988 — including the appropriate role of police.

Police Involvement in Mental Health Crisis

While it makes sense to say that mental health conditions should be considered health care issues rather than criminal justice issues, that assertion becomes more difficult when tested for specific cases. For example, I am familiar with a case from twenty years ago involving a person with psychotic delusions. He sees the gym in his apartment building as an imaginary “holodeck.”Wikipedia describes a holodeck as “a fictional device from… Star Trek that uses ‘holograms’ to create a lifelike 3D simulation…in which participants can freely interact with the environment as well as objects and characters [in] Predefined narratives. He believes the holodeck was set up to show him “how to meet women in a bar”.

When he went to the gym with his psychosis, there were two women working out, one on the treadmill and the other lifting weights. He was leaning against the wall behind the woman on the treadmill – already acting strangely. He wasn’t entirely convinced he was actually on the holodeck, so he poked the woman’s shoulder with his index finger to test reality. In doing so, he carried out the attack. The police came and took him to the police station in handcuffs. At some point there, he said or did something – or didn’t do something – that resulted in officers forcibly taking him to the ground, face down, with several officers’ knees on his back and legs. He didn’t resist. Later, however, he continued his loud and lengthy rant. In one memorable line, he shouted: “Noah’s Ark is crossing Niagara Falls, are you in or out?” He spent a month in a mental hospital. After that, he received a one-year probation for misdemeanor assault.

While we could talk about a paradigm shift that sees mental health conditions as healthcare issues rather than criminal justice issues, this case shows how difficult it can be to separate one from the other. In this case, there is a direct link between delusional thoughts and criminal behavior. In claiming that law enforcement should play a secondary role in mental health crises, we are saying that no charges or adjudications will be brought against legitimate criminal complaints such as these. This seems unlikely. When we talk about a concrete, real-world example of a mental health crisis, the concept of secondary police involvement seems more difficult to achieve.

This example shows how psychopathic behavior pushes the limits of our empathy and understanding. However, more understanding is needed to address the mental health challenges we face.To quote The Atlantic’s Alyssa Ross, “To truly address our broken approach to mental illness, there needs to be attitude change: From seeing people as inherently dangerous to seeing them as needy. “This change could move us towards decriminalisation.

Ben Wheatley is Senior Health Policy Advisor at Kaiser Permanente.