LEOs and the mentally ill

[Stephanie Gibson]

E&C Passes Landmark Bipartisan Mental Health Reform Bill

Jun 15, 2016


Press Release


Rep. Tim Murphy’s H.R. 2646, the Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act, Ready for House Floor Consideration




WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), today passed bipartisan legislation to reform our nation’s mental health system by a vote of 53-0. H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, was introduced by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
Today the committee considered an amendment in the nature of a substitute (AINS) that was the result of Member conversations and stakeholder feedback since H.R. 2646 was passed by the Health Subcommittee

https://energycommerce.house.gov/new...-reform-billin November. The committee has achieved important reforms – most recently funding for the Assisted Outpatient Treatment grant program in December’s year-end spending package, and CMS also expanded settings of care for mentally ill in April. This multi-year, multi-Congress effort now moves forward to the full House.

“This bill will make a real difference for countless Americans,” said Chairman Upton. “The 53-0 vote marks another important milestone to delivering meaningful reforms to families in mental health crisis. Those suffering from mental illness need the attention of this Congress, and I hope the House will swiftly follow our lead.”


“Here and now this committee jointly proclaims that the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness must come out of the shadows, we declare a new dawn of hope for the care of those with mental illness and we pledge our unwavering commitment to continued work to bring help and hope in the future,” stated Murphy.


The committee adopted an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 2646, which unanimously passed the full committee by a vote of 53-0.

[Unregistered]

E&C Passes Landmark Bipartisan Mental Health Reform Bill

Jun 15, 2016


Press Release


Rep. Tim Murphy’s H.R. 2646, the Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act, Ready for House Floor Consideration




WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), today passed bipartisan legislation to reform our nation’s mental health system by a vote of 53-0. H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, was introduced by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
Today the committee considered an amendment in the nature of a substitute (AINS) that was the result of Member conversations and stakeholder feedback since H.R. 2646 was passed by the Health Subcommittee

https://energycommerce.house.gov/new...-reform-billin November. The committee has achieved important reforms – most recently funding for the Assisted Outpatient Treatment grant program in December’s year-end spending package, and CMS also expanded settings of care for mentally ill in April. This multi-year, multi-Congress effort now moves forward to the full House.

“This bill will make a real difference for countless Americans,” said Chairman Upton. “The 53-0 vote marks another important milestone to delivering meaningful reforms to families in mental health crisis. Those suffering from mental illness need the attention of this Congress, and I hope the House will swiftly follow our lead.”


“Here and now this committee jointly proclaims that the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness must come out of the shadows, we declare a new dawn of hope for the care of those with mental illness and we pledge our unwavering commitment to continued work to bring help and hope in the future,” stated Murphy.


The committee adopted an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 2646, which unanimously passed the full committee by a vote of 53-0.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn...

[Stephanie Gibson]

So if it bores you.. why would you come here?

[Unregistered]

So if it bores you.. why would you come here?

I thought any person could post anything they wanted. Or are you now changing your tune hypocrite?

[Stephanie Gibson]

I thought any person could post anything they wanted. Or are you now changing your tune hypocrite?

Of course they can.. I was simply responding to your 'statement' with a reasonable question. You chose not to answer it which is cool.

This is a very difficult and complex subject that we all have a vested interest in solving. I think we need to all work together to find answers that work for our communities. Do you have any ideas or thoughts to share on how to best alleviate the problem?

[Unregistered]

Of course they can.. I was simply responding to your 'statement' with a reasonable question. You chose not to answer it which is cool.

This is a very difficult and complex subject that we all have a vested interest in solving. I think we need to all work together to find answers that work for our communities. Do you have any ideas or thoughts to share on how to best alleviate the problem?

Ha HA first step is admitting that a mistake has happened. Um I do not believe that will ever happen. Always right never wrong mentality

[Stephanie Gibson]

Crisis Intervention Training to Deal With the Mentally Ill
Posted On October 2, 2016

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The recent police-involved shooting in El Cajon that led to the death of Alfred Olango who was claimed by his sister as mentally ill sparked protests in the San Diego suburb. This and other related incidents across the country underscore the challenges of making split-second decisions and knowing how to de-escalate without resorting to violence.

During the incident, one officer opened fire while another one deployed his Taser. A vape smoking device was recovered from Olango, an object that he rapidly drew from his pocket and pointed at an officer while he assumed a shooting stance.

The video below captured by a surveillance camera and a cell phone of a witness was initially withheld and the police department released a photo instead. But following some public protests, it was finally released.
At one point, Olango’s sister asked an officer, “Don’t you guys have a crisis communication team to talk to somebody mentally sick?”

As the situation appeared to unfold quickly, “there was no time to call for a mental health crisis team,” Ed Obayashi, a Plumas County, CA, sheriff’s deputy, and legal advisor said. According to him, even training officers to de-escalate interactions with the mentally ill may not have helped in this case.

“When those hands come up in a shooting stance, the officer wouldn’t have time to assess whether what is in the hands is a gun,” Obayashi said. “Almost immediately, the officer sees the hands flash up into a shooting stance, he must react. A second will be too late if it’s a firearm.”

“These things happen in split seconds,” former LAPD Capt. Greg Meyer, who oversaw mental health training and testifies in use-of-force trials, agreed. He said the officers didn’t have time to see if the Taser alone would have subdued him.

The key to dealing with the mentally ill is to calm the situation. An officer can begin a conversation to reduce tension and de-escalate the situation. This is what Sam Cochran, a retired major with the Memphis police who pioneered mental health policing in the U.S., said.

He noted, however, every situation is different and dealing with a man with his hands in his pockets and refusing to cooperate can be tough. To help officers de-escalate situations before they turn deadly, particularly when those situations involve someone with a mental illness, some law enforcement agencies in the Tampa Bay area are teaching necessary skills. “With them being able to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness they can see if someone is escalating and giving those skills to be able to calm that person and bring them down to where they’re not trying to go hands-on,” said Pinellas County Sheriff’s Corporal Thomas Kelley, who teaches the Crisis Intervention Team training program to everyone in the agency from deputies on the street to 911 dispatchers to people working in jails.

“Not only are the road deputies seeing this on the streets, but now we’re taking these people from the streets into jail and now they’re having to be treated in the facility.” Many jails have become some of the largest mental health institutions in the United States due to a lack of resources for mentally ill people outside of the criminal justice system.

“I was taken aback by the vast numbers of people that we have coming through jail that actually has mental issues,” said Pinellas County Detention Sergeant Serena Bennett. “Many of them are coming to us rather than going to those facilities that just treat mental illnesses and so we need to have the capability and the know-how to deal with them on a daily basis.”

“This helps me understand a lot more what these folks are going through,” said Deputy Chris Hink, a Pinellas County Detention Officer who graduated from the program on Friday. “We have a big mental illness problem as a whole in the United States as a whole, not just in Florida, and it needs to be taken care of.”
It also has been reported that half of all those killed during encounters with the police every year in the United States have mental illnesses.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about 6 percent of the U.S. population, or 1 in 17 people, have a mental illness. Across the United States, prisons and jails now house 10 times more individuals with mental illness than state psychiatric hospitals.

In a conference on policing in the 21^st century held by the University of Wisconsin at Platteville earlier this month, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney told the audience, “We have become mental health workers because of the work that we do.” He said that nearly half the people his deputies took into custody are suffering from chronic mental illness.

Mahoney noted that his deputies are dealing with situations they were never trained for. “They didn’t enter this profession, for this reason, never given the tools of the mental health profession that they need. … They provide a service to those with mental health issues we as a society fail to provide.”
“Jails are not intended to house individuals with a mental health crisis,” Mahoney stated, adding he has been a vocal proponent for having those in crisis taken out of the jail, feeling it’s inhumane to deal with them in that setting.

One of the ways agencies have addressed mental health training needs is through Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training. The CIT model was created more than 25 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee, after the fatal shooting by police officers of a knife-wielding man who had mental health issues. CIT training helps law enforcement officers recognize and understand mental illness, teaches them how to better assist individuals in crisis, and provides information about available resources.

Currently, only 10 percent of police departments across the United States require CIT training. But Richmond, Virginia, Police Chief Ray Tarasovic took a proactive approach and made CIT training mandatory for all department personnel—sworn and civilian in 2013, as he recognized the importance of dealing appropriately with people who have mental and emotional illnesses.

Richmond Police Department personnel receive 40 hours of training regarding mental illness and the proper handling of situations in which they come in contact with the public. For sworn officers, such training takes place upon hire, as well as throughout their career during state-mandated, in-service training. Police recruits receive two training sessions (a total of 12 hours) upon hire prior to any work in the field.
Richmond Police Department took another step and established a new multijurisdictional Crisis Triage Center (CTC) at HCA Virginia’s Tucker Pavilion at Chippenham Hospital, combining medical, psychiatric, law enforcement, and emergency mental health resources in a one-stop shop.

CTC is designed to provide the suitable treatment for people in a mental health crisis that are brought in on an emergency custody order in a medical environment instead of simply putting them in incarceration. This also allows officers to return to their patrols and assignments in a more timely and efficient manner.
While CIT or related training may be costly, it is important to recognize that departments and the community may pay an even higher price in liability and undesired outcomes if it is proven that officers are deficient in necessary training for dealing with persons with mental illness.

http://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/c...-mentally-ill/

[Stephanie Gibson]

The analysis, which appears in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs, found that nearly 40 percent of news stories about mental illness connected it with violent behavior toward others. That number does not match up with the 5 percent of violence in the United States that is actually directly related to mental illness, the researchers say.


"This is very problematic because the research evidence shows that people with mental illness are almost never violent toward other people and most violence in the United States is not caused by mental illness," study leader Emma E. "Beth" McGinty, Ph.D, MS, an assistant professor in the departments of Health Policy and Management and Mental Health at the Bloomberg School, told CBS News. "So the fact that so much news coverage about mental illness focuses on violence toward others really potentially creates a misconception in the public's mind about how closely linked mental illness and violence are and also likely increases social stigma towards people with mental illness."


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/too-many...ental-illness/

[Stephanie Gibson]

For thepast two weeks, Joe has had a very difficult episode. It is emotionally and physically draining for both of us. He is not violent but he goes to another reality where none of us will ever understand. He gets fixated on something, usually energy related or aliens or this week, it was mirrors, and yard furniture. He doesnt eat. He doesnt sleep. He just chases his thoughts in his own headspace, trying to solve some delusion that his dysfunctioning brain is delluding him into believing is real... It is exhausting, he frustrates and sours, cursing at that which wont let him sleep..

My job is to get him to eat, to settle, to sleep.. to keep him safe until he returns to this world. we made it through, finally, and now we recover... until his need to eat fades again setting it all off again. Most of the time, we get through it in a few days. Other times, i just pray and wait for the time to pass.. breathing easier when it passes. The most frightening times are when i fear him hurting himself. This time is was his heel and achillees, who knew dragging mirrors into the back yard to breaking them with bare feet could hurt?

Do i dial 911 or not?

So to those who think I should simply let Chief Failure and his failure of leadership off the hook.. that bad stuff happens to good people all the time. Well I know that it is highly likely that i will be faced with making a 911 call again at some point. Will we be the losing lottery winner like 12 15 2013 where the unchecked thumpers shows up to do it their way or can I trust that i get lucky enough for one of the other 97%. The odds are clearly in my favor..

It pisses me off that I am so wary.. it must be doubly frustrating to be one of the good cops whose reputations are smeared by the few cops out there that abuse their power. It is infuriating that City Hall turns a blind eye to it. It is unacceptable and MUST change. The latest stunt of relieving the notorious Bush of his K9 yet kept him on to train is a glaring example of utter insanity..

So it is very personal and it matters to me, to Joe, that change happens at NPPD.

[Stephanie Gibson]

Handling Kansans with mental illness a matter of training for law enforcement


Editor’s note: Reporters from the Topeka Capital-Journal and KHI News Service collaborated for a six-month exploration of how the state’s legal system deals with people with mental illness. This is the second in a four-part series, “Mental health on lockdown.”


At first, the man appears drunk.


He’s walking along an on-ramp from Lackman Road onto Interstate 435, a major highway snaking through the Kansas City metro area. At 1 p.m., traffic is heavy.


The man doesn’t react well when a police officer arrives....

https://www.facebook.com/law.enforce...57631901425244