Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
Arrest Diversion Models
In Arrest Diversion Models, James Hannon, moderator and professor of sociology and criminal justice at Bridgewater State College, made clear that the use of diversion at the first point of intersection of citizen with the law enforcement community, contact with police, would be the focus of this panel. Panelist Albert Grudzinkas, J.D., coordinator for the Legal Studies Center for Mental Health Services at the University of Massachusetts Medical School began by providing some history of the development of mental health analysis as a tool for Massachusetts police and courts.
Mr. Grudzinkas traced the development back twelve years, to an incident in Lynn, where police accidentally killed a holocaust survivor, and to two instances in Fitchburg, where police, by not intervening, were found responsible for a suicide attempt by an individual, and one officer got into an altercation with a mentally-ill citizen. Both men were injured in the fight. As a result of the first Fitchburg incident, in which the city’s insurer paid damages to the citizen, the police force agreed to undergo “sensitivity training.” Accordingly, police departments around the commonwealth began to realize that they needed more skills to deal with an increasing numbers of 911 calls for assistance where the individual was acting at risk to himself rather than engaging in behavior which otherwise be seen as suggesting criminal intent. Departments therefore started employing mental health professionals to provide crisis recognition training.
The intent has not been for police to take the responsibility for the diagnosis of mental illnesses, but rather to identify symptoms that require the skills of a mental health clinician. All panelists, in addition to Mr. Gradzinkas the panel included Sarah Abbott-Carr of The Advocates, a mental health service provider corporation in Framingham and Brian Simoneau Assistant to the Chief of Police in Framingham, concurred that the police interact more often with citizens experiencing mental health emergencies than with bank robbers or murderers. This training encourages the police to function as the eyes and ears of mental health clinicians and, in some instances, the courts. Training encourages careful observation so that when individuals are taken to a hospital for evaluation, the police can report information about the individual his/her environment that can be useful to the clinician.
This training has enabled police to better respond to all sorts of behavior problems resulting from substance or from domestic abuse, to sexual offenses. The goal of the response is to engage the citizens without judging the motivation and without jeopardizing anybody’s self image, but rather to concentrate on ensuring the safety of all. Mr. Grudzinkas’ experiences suggest that police eagerly embrace the extra training and resources, recognizing that these “tools” make their jobs safer and easier and put the community at less risk. As an aside, he has found that mental health providers are less willing than the police to see themselves as needing to be concerned with public safety along with the safety of the individual, as their focus is the needs of the individual client.
Ms. Abbott-Carr of the Advocates and clinical responder for the Framingham Police Department, together with Brian Simoneau, described the successful collaboration of their agencies, which has resulted in a substantive reduction in arrests in Framingham and a diversion to treatment for many who come to the attention of the city police. Through A) joint training in which the clinicians receive the much the same education as police cadets, B) monthly stakeholder meetings concerning individual cases, and C) actual participation in daily 911 calls, the police have been able to accept these clinicians as a part the law enforcement culture, and the clinicians have begun to understand common perspectives as well. There is now a joint recognition that both organizations are involved in risk management, crisis intervention and the de-escalation of threats to public safety. This connection was seen as an extremely valuable side benefit of the joint effort. Currently, clinicians work at the police station for 65 hours per week, covering the evening and night hours, and are on-call the rest of the time.
A year ago in Framingham, 89% of 911 calls resulted in an individual being taken into custody and brought to the emergency room of the local hospital, often against their will. Now, only 35% of such individuals are taken in; the rest remain in their environment for disposition. This is a major economic relief to hospitals, in that most of those needing attention are unlikely to have private insurance. As a side benefit, mental illness has been de-stigmatized within the law enforcement community.
One problem with the collaboration has been the lack of state funding for this kind of community response. Reference was made to a bill sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Creem (D., Newton), which is currently before the legislature and would mandate such training. Unfortunately the bill provides no money to towns to cover the costs of such a mandate.