A safety net for the mentally ill

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It's a bitter mix: mental illness, self-medication through drugs or alcohol, erratic actions that break the law and prompt a police response. And then: What options do the police have? Do they know what they're dealing with? Where do they take someone? What kind of professional help is available at 10 p.m. on a Friday night?

Most often, it's cops who get called into a volatile situation. In the case of the mix above, they rarely know what they are walking into - although they have identified, and know, some 80 people in this county who regularly show up on the police radar.

Police are pretty well-trained in a lot of areas, but not necessarily mental illness. Actions and reactions escalate, and soon there's a scuffle and a fight. Before you know it, a mentally ill person is inside the back door of a police cruiser, and that door is the entry into the criminal justice system.

We have that mix in Jefferson County. It flares up from time to time, as it did in the case of Myles Carroll, a local young man well known to police, with reports stating that he was sometimes combative and sometimes cooperative. On June 6, 2015, an altercation with police officers who had been called to keep him out of the Cellar Door resulted in a fight, an officer's broken nose, allegations that police quickly escalated the situation into a fight, and now charges against Carroll. He's apparently out of custody on his personal recognizance awaiting trial on a variety of charges.

That led, in turn, to an outpouring of support for Carroll and questions about police overreaction.

In early April, just a ferry ride away in Coupeville, in the Island County Jail, a young man who also had a mental illness diagnosis died in jail, dehydration contributing to his death. His family alleges he was ignored by county jailers because of his illness.

In response to the outrage following Carroll's fight with police, city officials and mental health professionals are taking steps. As outlined by reporter Robin Dudley in this edition of the Leader, police are meeting with Jefferson Mental Health Services and City Manager David Timmons to map out a strategy that gives those who may get into trouble due to mental illness options other than the backseat of a police cruiser. This county remains underequipped for a full-time emergency response to mental illness. Noted Sheriff Dave Stanko, "We don't have anywhere to put people that have mental health problems, so they go to jail."

Once in the judicial system, the mentally ill have more options, though those are still slim. Mental Health Court was developed to get help from mental health experts. Jefferson Mental Health Service plans to have a designated mental health professional for each 24-hour shift who is to be notified by law enforcement or hospital staff when a person needs a mental health assessment.

Complicating the picture, of course, is the prospect that drug abuse is often part of the picture. As interim Police Chief Michael Evans explained, it might take eight hours for ingested drugs to run their course in a person's body, even if a mental health professional is present.

Our community and our society have dealt with a lot of issues. Stepping up to create an adequate safety and treatment net for the mentally ill is not among our success stories. It confronts people, including police, with the fear of the unknown about mental illness. And it's expensive to do something tangible, such as a treatment center. So, for now, we talk about more cooperation, more sensitivity, more training and more ways to tamp down the bitter mix.