Becoming aware of mental illness: Pa. law requires training for police, judges

July 21--State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, D-Berks County, was disgusted in February when police in Pasco, Wash., shot and killed a man who had been throwing rocks at passing vehicles.

He said the incident drove home the need for his bill requiring mental health awareness training for police and district judges. Amid the state budget impasse, Gov. Tom Wolf quietly signed that bill into law July 10.

The law requires that district judges and police receive training in mental health, autism and intellectual disabilities, all of which can affect a person's behavior and interactions with law enforcement. Mr. Caltagirone said he wants police and court officials to know "what to look for and how to handle it" so that a person's illness does not unnecessarily result in a violent altercation or trip to the lockup.

"I do believe it's time," said Aspinwall police Officer Scott Bailey, who has two sons with autism, and worked with the Allegheny County district attorney's office to develop a video, "Encountering People With Autism," for police and other first responders. He said the video has been sent throughout the United States and overseas.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John Zottola, an advocate of mental health training for police and diversionary programs to keep the mentally ill out of jail whenever possible, also applauded the new law. He and Officer Bailey noted that the Legislature is considering other bills, introduced by former police officers, that would allow an autism diagnosis to be noted on a person's driver's license or state identification card.

In the Pasco case, which was captured on video and made national headlines, Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, threw rocks at vehicles and police before officers chased and shot him. He had had previous run-ins with police and, family members said, had battled depression.

"I thought to myself, you had to realize that guy had mental health problems," Mr. Caltagirone said. "There's something wrong there. He didn't need to be shot."

Mr. Caltagirone is a frequent critic of national and state mental health policies, including the closure of state hospitals and unnecessary incarceration of the mentally ill.

District Judge Richard King, whose office is in Carrick, said he and his colleagues already receive training on mental health issues, but worked with Mr. Caltagirone on the legislation. Mr. Caltagirone said the bill was needed to make sure the training remains in the judges' curriculum.

"If you don't mandate something, they can do away with it at any time," he said.

Judge King, who is president of the Allegheny County Special Court Judges Association, and chairman of the state Supreme Court's Minor Judiciary Education Board, said district judges routinely encounter defendants with mental illness. He said such illnesses even manifest themselves in school truancy cases.

Although the legislation mentioned training only for municipal police officers, Mr. Caltagirone said he wants state troopers to have it, too. Some police already receive mental health training.

Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, for example, provides Mental Health First Aid training to police officers, firefighters and school personnel, among other groups. It recently put 170 Allegheny County librarians through the program.

While it focuses on mental health issues, the training can help a person interact with any of the three populations. "We're teaching people the safe way to approach them," said Mark Rogalsky, Pittsburgh Mercy's manager of prevention services.

Some officers also take a longer Crisis Intervention Team training course, which covers mental health, autism and intellectual disabilities. It's offered by the county and Pittsburgh Mercy.

In all, Pittsburgh Mercy trained about 400 people in Mental Health First Aid and about 50 in CIT during the last fiscal year.

Through his private business, Autism Network for Public Safety Professionals LLC, Officer Bailey teaches police officers about autism "acceptance." He also talks to people with autism to help them understand law enforcement. Because of bad experiences with police, he said, some are afraid of him.

Police must learn to interact with people with autism, Officer Bailey said. "We have to accommodate them and help them out as much as we can."

Joe Smydo: jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.

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