I was diagnosed with a mental illness at the age of eight, and another at seventeen. I have had to learn lessons the hard way in managing my conditions, but a few that I have taken with me after all these years is: take your medicine, therapy is your friend, and the police are not trained to handle your situation.
When I was a child, and had a mental health episode, there was nothing that made me feel more inhumane than having to deal with the police being called. I felt less than, like I had committed the ‘worst’ offense of being mentally ill, and they offered me no comfort other than showing me what they truly thought of me: that I was just a delinquent acting out of line.
Sure, I did need help, but I guarantee you that if I had received some compassion from a trained professional, it would’ve been a lot easier for an eight-year-old to process the situation at hand.
A Lack of Knowledge
I am considered one of the lucky ones. It is estimated that those with mental illness are 16 times more likely than their counterparts to be killed during an encounter with the police in America.
Most of those in law enforcement receive very little, if any, training on how to deal in situations with people who have mental illnesses like Bipolar disorder or Schizophrenia. Instead of working to de-escalate a situation, many immediately use force, which ends up resulting in hundreds of deaths of mentally ill Americans who simply need help. Using a taser instead of a gun leads to a lot less damage for the individual, yet these concepts are rarely taken into consideration.
In many cases of mental health episodes, there is a reason why the police are called, and it is largely due to the lack of crisis management in many areas within the US. The police are the only people that desperate and loving family, friends, and neighbors know of to call in these heartbreaking situations. They call to see their loved one receive help, not to see them murdered at the hands of a police officer.
The Stigmatization of the Mentally Ill
The stigmatization of those with mental illnesses has been a problem for centuries, from jokes about women who were lobotomized and ‘hysteric’ to the offensive depiction of mental illness in popular shows and movies, it has only continued to grow. It isn’t wrong to wonder that if the average person has stereotypes of those with mental illness in their minds, why wouldn’t the police whom receive very little training?
Alongside this, in many states in order for someone to receive help and be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric unit, police must be involved in the process. Needing to have law enforcement involved in every step of a person obtaining help in these situations only perpetuates the stereotype that all of those with mental illness are dangerous to others when the reality is those who suffer from mental illness are more likely to be victims of a violent crime, rather than the perpetrator. There needs to be a better way to handle situations that involve those with a mental illness and the police, which is why there is an immense need for reform.
The Way Foward
There are multiple different routes we can take to have an effective change in the way those with mental illness are treated by law enforcement, and sure, more training is great, but there has to be a fundamental change in the system to truly ensure reform. The best way is the implementation of Crisis teams.
Many cities, like Philadelphia, have already implemented co-responder programs that include mental health professionals with law enforcement who respond to mental health crises in their area. This not only allows the situation to be handled but also lets the person experiencing the crisis be in a position to receive guidance and de-escalation tactics rather than be met with the use of force or intimidation tactics in an already sensitive state. It allows those struggling to be met with compassion and treated humanely.
As much as I believe we need a strong foundational change in the way the police operate in the United States, this would also be a plus to them, as they would spend less time going out to calls where they are simply not needed, no longer wasting resources, and allow those with the actual training to take the reign and help citizens out. Then, if they are needed after exhausting these options, they can be called in.
People with mental illness deserve to be treated humanely in times of crisis, and until there is a significant change in the way our law enforcement handles mental health crises, I’ll be sticking to that third lesson I learned at eight years old.
Photo Credit: AP
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