Why Law Enforcement Should Not Be Tasked With Dealing With The Dealing With The Mentally Ill.
Whenever I was working a patrol shift, I dreaded getting a call to respond to a possible 5150 (Cal. Code for someone that may have a mental health issue derived from California's 5150 W&I.C. section for someone exhibiting mental health concerns) for a variety of issues. Like most things an officer has to deal with, you never knew what you were going to find; which to be honest is one of the reasons most of us loved being cops because we were adrenalin junkies. That being said, once you encountered the person, you had to try and figure out what he or she's issues were. Then, you had to determine whether or not this subject was either exhibiting violence, or may be prone to same. If in fact, you determined that the subject was a danger to themselves or others and required a mental health evaluation, you then took them into custody and transported them first to a local hospital to be checked for injuries, and then given a medical release. Once that was done, which usually took hours, you then had to try and locate a facility that would agree to take the individual for the prescribed evaluation period; which oftentimes was also an extremely time consuming process. In fact, many times you found yourself dealing with this one individual for your entire shift and at times beyond.
One of the other things I always found to be of interest was that many of the family members we would encounter concerning the subject, and oftentimes be the reporting party would say, "we can't deal with him or her, we have tried everything, he is driving us nuts; now he is yours."
Of course, that may have changed slightly if the contactee had committed a crime which required being placed in a custodial situation. There in lies another issue. The vast majority of jails in the United States do not have either the requisite medical or psychological training or personnel on hand, let alone the proper facilities to deal with those afflicted with mental health issues. More over, many of those taken into a custodial environment had taken street drugs to try and handle their issues, because most of them truly disliked taking their prescribed Meds. Many who advised me because those prescriptions made them feel like zombies. This only added to the issues they had while in a custodial situation.
My proposed remedy. Have mental health professionals on rotating shifts available for call-out from one centralized location. Of course, if they need backup to initially deal with the subject, law enforcement should be available. Once, the subject is basically corralled, then it is on the responding mental health person to obtain housing for the person. If need be, they can be transported by ambulance. Of course, in Europe, they have actual medical doctors that respond on these types of calls with their paramedic services. Of course, if the subject in question has committed an arrestable offense, and needs to be housed in a detention environment, then there should be a specific wing set aside with well-trained medical/mental health personnel to deal with these individuals.
I firmly believe that this will not only free up more officers to do tasks that they are much better trained for, as well as hopefully cut down on any unfortunate custodial deaths that can and do transpire in a custodial situation.