Are the police receiving adequate training on mental illness

On February 3, 2012, a Toronto police officer shot and killed Michael Eligon, who was believed to be mentally ill. Eligon was admitted to Toronto East General Hospital on January 31, 2012 for a mental assessment and was supposed to be picked up by his foster mother on February 3, 2012. He walked out of the hospital in his hospital gown and walked around the neighbourhood looking confused and disoriented. He also had two pairs of scissors he took from a convenience store nearby. He attempted to enter into a number of homes and a few people called the police. The police arrived and an officer shot at Eligon three times when they finally found him, with one of the shots hitting and killing Eligon. 

This was a complete shock to the neighbourhood and brought an array of questions regarding the police and the adequacy of the training they receive on dealing with people who have a mental illness. Neighbours raised their concerns since these incidents keep occurring, as exemplified by the cases of Charlie McGillivary and Sylvia Klibingaitis that happened last year.

Charles McGillivary was unable to speak due to a childhood accident and communicated through sign language with his mother and used a handful of words only she could understand. He collapsed and died while being arrested by police. They mistakenly took him for another suspect and due to his large frame and the fact that he couldn’t speak, they took him down while arresting him. McGillivary fell into medical distress and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. He was walking with his mother when this occurred and the police wouldn’t listen to her pleas that he was mentally ill and couldn’t speak.

Sylvia Klibingaitis struggled with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and psychotic delusions. She had “peak anxiety” during the weeks prior to her death, and she made a 9-1-1 call for help during a mental crisis. She told the operator that she had a knife and that she was going to commit a crime. According to the S Investigations Unit (SIU), Klibingaitis burst out the front door with a large knife in her right hand when a police officer approached her home. The officer backed away from the house toward the curb. As she followed him toward the curb with knife in hand, he pulled his gun from its holster and repeatedly yelled, “Put the knife down!” She refused and moved closer. The officer fired three times. One bullet hit the garage door and another struck her in the chest, killing her.

The SIU was contacted in both cases, and in both cases the police officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

It seems that front-line police officers are coming into more contact with people who have mental health issues, but they receive very little mental health support and training. On the Canadian Mental Health Association website, it states that a study by the London Police Department showed that between 1998 and 2001, the number of hours uniformed police spent dealing with people with serious mental illness doubled from 5,000 to 10,000. The same study showed that calls involving people with mental illness took up to $3.7 million of the $43-million London Police Department budget in 2001. The study also showed that the increase in calls was for minor nuisance crimes or no crime at all, and that violent crime among people with serious mental illness was actually decreasing.

In a resolution passed in June 2003, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police recognized that "the inadequate funding of community mental health services has resulted in vulnerable individuals being at risk of increased contact with the police and increased involvement in the criminal justice system."

Deputy Chief Michael Federico said all Toronto officers are given mental-health training each year when they have two days of use-of-force training. It includes instruction on how to calm situations down verbally and realistic role-play scenarios that mimic responding to someone with a mental illness. Additional training varies by specific job and the year, he said. Police in Halifax and York Region have adopted an intensive 40-hour training program, developed in Memphis, Tennessee. The program takes officers to a mental-health ward and gives them extra verbal techniques.

Mr. Pritchard, a retired co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams is calling for existing crisis teams, which pair a mental-health professional with an officer, to be available throughout the city, 24 hours a day. As of now, they are available in 10 of 17 policing divisions for 10 hours a day. In Hamilton and other jurisdictions, such teams are available at all hours.

This leaves us asking a lot of questions regarding how equipped the police are in handling situations that involve the mentally ill. An important aspect to think about is the way in which those with mental health issues are viewed by others and if they may automatically be viewed as violent by the police. It begs the question of whether this is an issue of inadequate support and training, or a bias on the part of the police when it comes to handling interactions with those who are mentally ill. Many people believe that the police are treating people with mental illness like criminals and that something needs to be done in order to prevent further needless deaths of mentally ill people at the hands of the police.

It is important to prevent the criminalization of the mentally ill, which seems to be a big issue. A report by the Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division, estimates that the percentage of mentally disordered offenders currently in jails and prisons range from 15 to 40%. This is a serious problem that needs to be genuinely addressed by the police. What solutions do you suggest for improving the ways in which police handle situations concerning people with a mental illness? Is more training required or should police receive more educational awareness regarding mental health matters, or both? As interactions between the police and the mentally ill increases, we will see if our concerns are going to be adequately addressed or not. 

Posted by Ada Vrana (Windsor Law I)

Police Too Quick To Taser?

On April 7, 2011, an eleven year-old boy was tasered by Prince George (BC) RCMP following his suspected involvement in the stabbing of a 37 year-old man at a group home. Immediately following the incident, little was known or released about what prompted the police to taser the boy. Six months later, it was discovered that the boy in fact suffered from a heart condition, bipolar disorder and hearing impairment. During the incident, the RCMP was negotiating with the boy to come out. The boy appeared in a second-story window with what appeared to be a knife. He ran the object along his sweatshirt, arms and hands. The RCMP then witnessed the boy make cross-like gestures, which stood as a last straw for the RCMP before they decided to taser him when he came out. The boy negotiated for some clothes and when he came out, he was tasered. It was later seen that the boy did not have a knife in his hands, but rather, a pen. 

At first glance, it seems that the RCMP were out-negotiated by an 11 year-old boy who faced mental health problems. Rather than calmly or alternatively trying to negotiate with the boy, or perhaps find out more about his situation, the RCMP resorted quickly to using a taser. It is understandable that the RCMP were trying to protect the boy from himself and from themselves. However, by using a taser so quickly, they failed to consider the potentially fatal side effects, in particular on the boy’s heart condition. The RCMP also failed to verify whether the boy in fact was holding a weapon at all before deciding to taser him.  It begs the question of whether this 11 year-old boy really posed a threat to the RCMP at all.

Given the boy’s mental health condition, of notable interest would be to look into whether the RCMP has been provided with adequate training in handling situations of this nature. It is possible that the RCMP misinterpreted the boy’s signals or the boy was unable to comprehend the RCMP officers’ demands. Would this then be sufficient grounds for the RCMP officers to resort to tasering the 11 year-old boy? It is tough to see in any situation involving an 11 year-old why the RCMP would resort to tasering. It is even more compelling in this situation where the boy faced several mental health disorders.

An investigation was launched into the conduct of the Prince George RCMP officers involved. In charge of the investigation was the West Vancouver Police Department (WVPD), headed by Chief Constable Peter Lepine, a former RCMP officer. Of particular concern here is who is acting as a check on the power of the RCMP? From what it seems, the WVPD is not an entirely independent unit, and thus cannot really provide an “objective” inquiry into the RCMP. The issue of tasering is already contentious – can the RCMP be held truly accountable for their actions if investigated by the WVPD?

In the end, it was declared by the WVPD that the conduct of the Prince George RCMP did not violate the Criminal Code. However, few details of how this decision was made were given. Consequently, how can we as the public be satisfied with the results of this investigation? Although the initial story caused mass public discourse and debate, the results of the inquiry into the RCMP has seemed to go undetected. The detailed considerations that went into the WVPD investigation were not made transparent to the public. The length of time between when the incident occurred, and when more details were provided (6 months later) seems entirely unreasonable and did not allow for the public to remain informed.    

It is also important to note that separate investigations by independent groups were also launched, including that of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, and one by well-known BC Representative for Child and Youth, Mary Turpel-Lafond working alongside the BC Ministry of Child and Family Development. Results of these investigations have yet to be released but perhaps when they are, they will shed a more objective light on the situation.

Posted by Audrey Wong (Windsor Law)

Should police be given mandatory training to deal with mentally disordered individuals

On August 13th 2007, Constable Lee Chipperfield, a member of the Vancouver police department, killed Paul Glenn Boyd, a 39-year old animator. The police were responding to a call regarding an assault in progress. Boyd had assaulted an officer with a bicycle chain and lock and despite warnings to drop his weapon and get on the ground, Boyd advanced toward the other officers including Chipperfield. Chipperfield open fired on Boyd, shooting him nine times, the final one being a fatal shot to the head. Two years after Boyd’s death, Chipperfield was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Boyd suffered from mental illness. Last month, experts at the coroner’s inquest into the shooting of Boyd suggested that it was possible he was psychotic. His psychiatrist, Dr. Margaret Duke, testified that she had seen him 4 days before his death and said he had been suffering from bi-polar disorder and post-manic depression. He was functioning, but not properly administering his medication and as a result was a concern to Duke.

The inquest into the shooting of Boyd made 9 recommendations aimed at ensuring this type of incident would not occur again. One recommendation centered on the types of weapons police use in such situations. The jury recommended that all police officers be equipped with non-lethal weapons such as beanbag guns, or tasers. This is salient given the fact that Chipperfield said he felt that Boyd was at risk to attack him or someone else and that the police had “run out of options”.

The major recommendation, which came from the inquest however, was that the police department should have additional mandatory training to learn how to deal with mentally disordered individuals. Such training could help some officers recognize symptoms of mental illness and become equipped with the necessary tools to deal with those situations – not simply resort to using their guns. The question then is – would this actually have an effect in cases like this one? Will an officer that chooses to shoot a man 9 times without attempting other measures actually pause to put their training into effect? It might be just as important to look at police culture, how officers are trained at a more basic level, and how their training might be used in the future to mitigate that initial instinct to reach for lethal weapons.

What do you think? Should resources be allocated to fund special training for police officers to learn how to deal with mentally disordered individuals? Will this start a ripple effect for other such groups who feel that police forces should have better capabilities in dealing with their issues?

Posted by Melissa Crowley (Windsor Law I)

Canadian Mental Health Association recommends special training for officers armed with tasers

The Saskatchewan division of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has recommended that police officers receive special training on how to deal with mentally ill people and that those skills are implemented before administering a Taser.

The brief from the CMHA comes after the Saskatchewan Police Commission, like many others across Canada, has begun to review how Tasers are used by their employees. Specifically, the Commission is reviewing whether they will allow their front-line municipal officers to carry Tasers. The CMHA recommends a “combination of effective and appropriate training and policy changes for the use of conducted energy devices,” that “crisis intervention training be incorporated in police recruit training and that there be ongoing training for all officers,” and that “an independent investigation be launched into the long-term health consequences for people who are stunned by CEDs.”

The use of CEDs is of particular concern to Canadian citizens as a result of the many high-profile cases that have resulted from their questionably improper administration. But what the CMHA’s brief should symbolize is the extreme importance of proper training for police officers in dealing with those that are mentally ill under all circumstances. Just three months ago, LEAP reported on a Newfoundland story where police mistook an autistic boy for a drunk, and threw him in the local lockup overnight.

Posted by Ashley Paterson (Law II)