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Imagine that someone you love is having a problem. They are upset and nothing you say will help them calm down. Call 911 to ask a professional to help treat their symptoms. Police arrived instead of medics. The officers shout commands as you plead to them that your loved one has mental health issues. But within minutes the police shot and killed them. This It’s not imaginary for Walter Wallace Jr.’s family.. This is what happened in West Philadelphia in October 2020.
As with many mental health emergencies in Philadelphia, law enforcement is the default for mental health crisis care.
People don’t expect armed police officers to show up when there’s a fire or health emergency. But professionals trained to deal with mental health crises aren’t available 24/7, so when someone calls 911, it’s usually the police who respond. When we ask police to serve as social workers and mental health professionals, we create dangerous situations, especially for our Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. As estimates suggest They account for about half of all fatal encounters with law enforcement nationwide. Engaging a person with mental illness.
“Nationally, nearly half of all fatal encounters with law enforcement involve someone with a mental illness.”
We are consultants and Members of Treatment is not painful Coalition to Support Non-Police Responses to Mental Health Crises. We encourage you to use the Support Mobile Crisis Teams, at A Peer support specialist (an individual with lived experience using crisis response services), a licensed mental health clinician, and a medical professional. Last year successfully A budget increase of 7.2 million dollars To test a mobile crisis team expansion program for the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS). We approved this budget increase to support more mobile crisis teams. The role of these groups is to respond to a mental health crisis in the city, so the police are never needed. Adding enough teams to adequately serve more of the city were critical first steps.
After a year, we thought we could show how successful the program was and how many people helped. Rather, the expansion and improvement of the mobile crisis system did not occur.
The new mobile crisis teams are still not fully staffed, and not all teams are operating 24/7, although DBHIDS awarded contracts to two additional service providers in September. Commissioner Jill Bowen Updated in April by members of the city council Full implementation is not expected until the end of 2022.
While the proliferation of community mobile crisis response teams has waned, crisis intervention response teams have been operating ever since. Spring 2021. Similarly, the two resources are very different. Both use mental health professionals, but not crisis intervention response teams It includes armed police Lack of trained and critical peer support specialists to respond to mental health emergencies. This type of intervention is not that effective. Research It did not show a reduction in the risk of injury or death When people in mental health crises interact with police and police-only crisis intervention teams.
» Read more: Following other cities, Philly will soon send specialists along with police to some mental health calls.
If the non-police mental health crisis response does not receive the attention it deserves, it can be set up to fail.
We cannot allow this to happen. Especially in the new application 988 National Mental Health Hotline. 988 has received criticism.It still uses the police, especially when local mobile crisis units are not available. So, without strong, fully functioning mobile crisis response teams in Philly, 988 counselors can rely on police officers. This is not in line with best practice for people experiencing mental health crises and poses a significant risk to vulnerable people.
It’s not too late to show Philadelphia that the city has a non-policing response to the mental health crisis. at least, DBHIDS must operate sufficient mobile crisis teams to adequately serve the population of Philadelphia, all teams 24/7; providing non-punishable transportation (ie no transportation in police cars) to care centers; and providing sustainable wages and benefits to employees.
Philadelphians deserve care, not the police. We seek healing, not harm. We need a crisis response that is familiar to mental health providers who are prepared to avoid it and – most importantly – to survivors of police contact during a mental health crisis. Hopefully one day Philadelphia will do more than pay lip service to mental health and instead properly fund, staff and fund mobile crisis units.
Julia Lyons and Thomas Clancy are both affiliated with Philadelphia Medical Center for Trauma.
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