EDITORIAL: Increasingly, cops must be mental health workers

June 23--Local police, courts and corrections officials are concerned about what appears to be a dramatic increase in mental health crisis situations taxing police officers and jail staff who must deal with the affected individuals. County health officials agree more services are needed, but they downplay the mental health aspect, saying many situations turn out to be the result of drug and alcohol intoxication, not necessarily mental illness.

Medford police say their calls for mental health holds have increased 17 percent in the past year, and suicides and attempted suicides are up 35 percent. It's hard to argue with those statistics, even if some of the calls turn out not to involve mental illness. And the fact that people suffering from mental illness may self-medicate with alcohol and drugs means a call may involve intoxication and mental illness at the same time.

Regardless of the ultimate diagnosis, the impact on police officers in the field is clear. Medford officers have killed three people in the past year, two of whom were described as mentally ill. The third incident is still under investigation, but the subject in that case was reportedly suicidal over a relationship breakup when he exchanged gunfire with a police officer.

Meanwhile, Jackson County Jail officials are reviewing an annual grand jury report that recommends the jail beef up its mental health programs. Jail deputies told the grand jury they are increasingly required to place prisoners on suicide watches, which strain staff resources because a deputy must check suicidal prisoners every 15 minutes.

One memo to the grand jury said the jail is increasingly functioning as a "secondary mental health facility" -- not the best use of a county jail. A big reason for that characterization is that the region's primary mental health facility -- the Behavioral Health Unit at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center known as Two North -- has only 18 beds, which are often full.

Police forces throughout the county are undergoing training in how to recognize mental health issues and defuse crisis situations. More of that training is planned, and that's a positive step.

But officer training alone won't solve the larger problem: There isn't enough room to house people in crisis short of putting them in jail, and the jail has space problems of its own.

Until funding is found to create more safe spaces for people in crisis, and more trained health professionals can be hired, the situation will continue to put stress on police, jail staff and court personnel.

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