Police Forced To Pick Up Slack As Mental Health Services Fade

[The Straight Story]

Police Forced To Pick Up Slack As Mental Health Services Fade
By Shaun Heasley

As mental health services fall victim to budget cuts in communities across the country, families are turning to law enforcement as their only hope for support in a crisis.

With fewer beds in psychiatric hospitals and reduced outpatient services, police departments are increasingly dealing with those experiencing mental health problems. That’s because when the police are called they have to do something, advocates say, whereas other service providers can simply turn patients away when they are full or when individuals do not have the means to pay.

In many cases police officers are better trained than ever to deal with individuals with mental illness. Several departments have crisis intervention teams specifically taught to identify signs of mental illness and work with treatment providers.

Nonetheless, the influx of calls to police from those in crisis — which are up as much as 50 percent in some regions — is proving taxing, especially in rural areas with limited resources, reports The New York Times. To read more click here.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/12/06/mental-health-police/11546/

[blueamy66]

1. This will not be good.

No way.

[ck4829]

2. People with mental illnesses are by and large actually less violent than the average person

While I don't doubt the story, what kind of people are being released out onto the streets?

[pacalo]

3. The police in my area are NOT properly trained to handle the mentally ill.

I've known for some time about the lack of facilities for the mentally ill, that jails were being used in place of hospital rooms when there weren't any available beds. There is more concern for public safety than there is for the welfare of the mentally ill. No one cares until it directly affects them. And, as mentioned by ck4829 above, violence is not generally a trait of the mentally ill. They are more afraid of violence against them.

Five years ago, my 20-yr.-old schizophrenic son was picked up by the police for defacing public property. He told me later that one of the officers was particularly physically brutal in handling him. Also, the officer put him into the backseat of the car in a lying position, with his head up against the car window. Enroute to the police station, whenever the officer had to stop for traffic or for a traffic signal/stop sign, he would brake abruptly, causing my son's head to bump against the window -- not that it hurt, he was more bothered by the fact that the officer would look back at him each time & laugh.

The police eventually took my son to the local hospital's emergency room. My husband & I were called by a friend of my son's who had seen him being picked up by the police, so we were able to locate him through several phone calls.

When we'd gotten to the emergency room, the officer couldn't have been more ungracious or rude. I explained to him what my son's mental state was, that he was usually very low-key & mild-mannered, but we had noticed he was more anxious than usual lately. The officer didn't sy a word in reply, but, instead, turned to the doctor & nurses & said, "I'm going to pray for y'all." Unbelievably, after I asked him to pray for us, too, he just glared at me with contempt, then left the hospital a moment later.

I stood there with tears in my eyes & told the staff, "He doesn't understand about mental illness. I feel like he's blaming us for this." They were apparently as uncomfortable as I was with the officer's attitude; they smoothed over the officer's callousness & ignorance as best they could, but I'll never forget that officer's attitude.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Reagan 2.0