By Tony Stein
Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — In 1982, Chesapeake police officers were called to a house where there was a mentally disturbed woman with a knife. After the officers assessed the situation, Sgt. John Cherry tried to take the knife away without hurting her. She slashed him so badly he bled to death.
Dealing with people who have mental health problems is an ongoing and increasing challenge for police officers, said Dave Michalski and Odean Baker II. They’re the men in charge of a program aimed at helping the city’s officers understand and deal with mental health situations.
The program is called Crisis Intervention Program, CIT for short. Michalski is training director of the Chesapeake Police Academy, and Baker is CIT coordinator for the Chesapeake Community Services Board.
The program has been funded by a state grant using funds allocated to the state by the federal government. It’s scheduled to begin in February.
Responding to calls about mental patients is often loaded with tricky decisions that have to be made quickly, the two men said. And a major concern has to be the safety of the patient, the public and the officer involved.
The new course is designed to give officers tools to address and, if needed, defuse situations in which people with mental health problems become dangers to themselves or others.
Communication is critical, Michalski and Baker say. An officer needs to make personal contact; giving a name, talking, reaching out verbally. Not challenging or calling a bluff; not saying “You’re not going to shoot” or “You’re not going to jump.”
Establishing some kind of rapport is a key. Role-playing scenarios that show good techniques will be an important part of the training course.
The need for better approaches to dealing with mental health patients is increasing for two reasons, Michalski and Baker said.
One is the decrease in funding that has led to a shortage of available facilities. The other is a current philosophy that aims at letting patients function in the community rather than in institutions.
Chesapeake’s program will be modeled on one in Memphis, Tenn., and an indication of its success has been a drop in the number of SWAT team calls.
Michalski and Baker also say part of the reason the program works is the increasing professionalism of police officers.
College degrees are commonplace on the Chesapeake force, and officers on the street have undergone a six-months academy course.
In the old days, a common assumption might have been a belligerent person was drunk or on drugs. The response was frequently sudden, physical and violent for both the officer and the subject of the confrontation.
Very dangerous, too. Michalski, a retired Portsmouth police captain, remembers the time a mental health patient with a knife came close to slashing him. And for the Chesapeake force, Cherry’s death has been a never forgotten lesson in what can be a deadly challenge.
That’s why Michalski and Baker are enthusiastic about the new program. They see it as a way to make the city safer for the victims of mental health problems, for the officers who must deal with them, and for the rest of us, lucky to be in the quiet pursuit of our everyday lives.
Copyright 2009 Virginian-Pilot