The unit will operate under the law enforcement ideal of protection - the idea that mental illness is a disease, not a crime.
St. Joseph News-Press
BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. — Local law enforcement will place more focus on interacting with mentally ill victims in light of dwindling funding for mental health programs and increased demand for such programs in St. Joseph.
The new response approach will develop specially trained uniformed officers to act as primary or secondary responders to every call in which mental illness is a factor. The specialized training will begin with an inaugural class of 20 officers from the St. Joseph Police Department and Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department.
The response for Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers will range from a call of a mentally-ill person caught shoplifting to an emotionally-distressed subject threatening to jump off a bridge. Police Sgt. Matt Rock, one of the trained CIT supervisors, said the officers will facilitate emergency mental health assessments at the scene of a crisis.
“We don’t have a policy written at this point on how they will be utilized, but these officers are going to have a little better understanding of mental illness and the processes we use for involuntary commitments,” he said.
In dealing with a mentally ill individual, the likelihood of violence and injury to an officer and subject increases. As more mentally ill individuals are arrested for minor offenses, they then put a strain on the Buchanan County Jail with high-maintenance needs.
Mr. Rock said the unit will operate under the law enforcement ideal of protection - the idea that mental illness is a disease, not a crime.
“Perhaps a detox program would be better for the person than jail. The officers will make an assessment of the best way to help the person at that time,” he said. “And help might be exactly what they need, not placing them in jail.”
The officers will also have to make judgments like, although a person has a mental illness, he may have been fully aware of the crime he committed and need to be arrested.
During training, which begins early next month, the officers on each shift who volunteered for the special training will interact not only with mental health professionals, but also people afflicted with mental illness and their families. They will create understandings of the side effects of antipsychotic medication, as well as the community resources available locally to the mentally ill, Mr. Rock said.
CIT, which was developed in Nashville, Tenn., in conjunction with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, has been so successful nationwide that Mr. Rock said the mentally ill in some communities have specifically asked for a CIT officer on scene.
“They recognize these officers have a little more training, a little better understanding, and basically they’re looking for alternatives to arrests,” Mr. Rock said.
In the future, 911 operators will also be a part of the training.
Randy Sharp, director of operations for InterServ, called the new CIT treatment model “dignified.”
In a visual survey of mentally-ill persons in Buchanan County in July, he said law enforcement and mental health professionals counted 81 people - 52 in shelters and 29 living on the street. In January, they had counted 100 - 88 of whom were in shelters.
Copyright 2007 St. Joseph News-Press