Washington state police learn how to best intervene when someone has a mental illness

From The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.:

Kennewick Police Cpl. Todd Dronen remembers a recent call about a disturbance at a bus stop.

He had to cope with an erratic woman who was bigger than he was. He got her into handcuffs, but instead of taking her to jail, he called the bicounty Crisis Response Unit.

Crisis response asked for her name, and within a couple of minutes said they knew her, knew what was wrong and had a bed waiting for her at a local hospital.

As it turned out, the woman had a mental illness and had a history of acting out when she stopped taking her medication.

"If I had taken her into the jail, she was going to be a handful because they don't have the mental health background," Dronen said.

But by calling crisis response, he was able to get the woman some help.

"Her behavior was absolutely predictable and familiar to these people," Dronen said. "It was a good effort by law enforcement and crisis to help this person and to get her off the street because she was a threat. She was dangerous."

Dronen recognized that the woman might need treatment for a mental illness rather than a trip to jail because he went through Crisis Intervention Training, known as CIT.

He was one of the first Kennewick police officers to go through CIT in Wenatchee before the department started holding training in the Tri-Cities.

People with mental illness ending up in jail has long been a frustration for mental health advocates and law enforcement alike.

Nan Bopp, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Tri-Cities, said far too many people with mental illnesses end up incarcerated in local jails on misdemeanors instead of getting treatment.

Her own children with bipolar disorder have had stints in jail when their illness led them to act out, she said.

"In many cases, you can't fault the policeman," Bopp said. "If you book the person on some trumped-up charge ... then you can get back to work."

CIT may be starting to change that.

Officers who once would assume a person's behavior was induced by drugs or alcohol now are better equipped to see the symptoms of mental disorders -- and they're bringing people to crisis response for an evaluation instead of taking them straight to jail, Dronen said.

"(Crisis response is) a very good ally in keeping the streets safe and getting these people the help they need so they don't cause problems," he said.

Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg said Dronen was so enthusiastic about CIT when he returned from Wenatchee that Hohenberg decided to bring the training to the Tri-Cities.

"I was a little skeptical at first," Hohenberg said. "I kept hearing, 'You need to do this.' I came to realize what we were continuing to do was not always effective -- just booking someone into jail and putting them back into the system was not resolving the issues."

The Kennewick Police Department has been the host for three CIT sessions open to all area law enforcement, Hohenberg said.

He said police officers are developing stronger relationships with mental health professionals through CIT. They're also hearing concerns from people like Bopp who have family members with mental illnesses.

"We meet with the consumers and/or family members to understand their perspectives," Hohenberg said. "There is firsthand interaction with families and other folks. NAMI has been a good partner in the overall success of these classes."

Hohenberg said the training has allowed police officers and the courts to spend more time dealing with real criminals.

"In the criminal justice system, we have a bigger need than to be dealing with people with mental issues," he said.