Officers learn to deal with the mentally ill

Jan. 14--When police officers, sheriff's deputies or state troopers are called to respond to a disturbance, it's not uncommon they encounter a person suffering from some form of mental illness.

"One in (every) three calls you respond to, you're dealing with someone with a mental" disturbance of some kind, said Deputy Duane Harper of the Daviess County Sheriff's Department.

According to 2013 statistics from the National Institute of Mental Illness, about one in four people experiences some episode of mental illness during a year.

How officers respond to a person who is suffering from a mental disturbance depends primarily on whether a subject is creating a danger to themselves or others. In those situations, the goal is to calm the person enough to take them for an emergency mental health evaluation.

Harper and Lt. Chris Castlen of the Owensboro Police Department teach crisis intervention classes for regional law enforcement agencies and have a training session set for next week in Henderson.

The formula for crisis intervention can be abbreviated "CIAF," for "calm, investigate, assess and facilitate."

"One of the things we teach is active listening skills," Castlen said.

Active listening is important on any law enforcement call, Caslten said. But active listening can help determine if a person who at first seems to have a legitimate complaint is really suffering a mental disturbance.

"Not all mental illness is blatantly obvious the moment you arrive," Castlen said. In some cases, what a person is saying might at first seem plausible. Only after listening and assessing the situation does it become clear the person is reacting to a mental disturbance.

"You have to spend a little extra time investigating what happened," Castlen said.

In Kentucky, officers don't receive training on how to calm people suffering from mental disturbances at the state police academy in Richmond. Instead, training is done by region, with departments partnering with the area mental health facility. In the Green River region, agencies such as OPD and the sheriff's department partner with RiverValley Behavioral Health.

"We're fortunate here in Daviess County to have the resources we have," Harper said.

If a person is deemed a danger to himself or others but has not committed a crime, officers want to encourage the person to peacefully agree to a mental health evaluation.

"If you recognized someone is in a mental health crisis, you spend more time trying not to use force," Castlen said. But a person who seems to pose a danger will be hospitalized.

"If they're out in traffic or are trying to (harm) someone else, you can't wait any longer," Castlen said. "You have to take them into custody."

A person with a mental health crisis who has committed an offense is taken to jail, where jail officials arrange for the person to receive an evaluation, Castlen said.

A person can need mental health treatment without posing a danger. In those cases, the officer might simply try to convince the person to take needed medication, Harper said. While officers can't take the person into custody if they aren't a danger, they will try to persuade the person to agree to go for help.

"We tell them, 'We'll take you (for an evaluation), and we'll bring you back home,'" Castlen said.

James Mayse, (270) 691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse

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