Cops and the Mentally Ill

Barely concealing his anger, Chaplain Thomas Nangle told an overflow funeral mass for Chicago policeman Richard Francis that the 60-year-old officer did not give his life in the line of duty—rather, it was "taken" from him.

Days before, on July 2, Francis, a 27-year veteran of the force, responded to a call steps from the police station where he was assigned. An emotionally disturbed person—EDP in police parlance—had fought with another passenger on a city bus. Before Francis could calm the woman, she grabbed his gun and shot him in the head. All too predictably, family members of the woman, Robin Johnson, told reporters that they had tried to get the woman help as her life slipped downhill.

From coast to coast, mentally ill people, without reliable access to the costly on-demand care they need, are left to fend for themselves. In the aftermath of the movement in the 1970s to close large mental asylums, many of today's mentally ill are left to their own devices; they are often homeless and without full-time advocates. With government unable or unwilling to properly serve this population, the criminal-justice system is left to pick up the slack.

Contrary to what many assume, the mentally ill are most often the victimized, not the victimizers. A 2005 study by researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University suggested that persons with serious mental illnesses are 11 times more likely than the general population to be victims of violent crime, with perhaps as many as 1 million crimes committed against those with serious mental-health issues each year.

But relying on the police to address the problem has too often resulted in tragedy, not only on the mean streets of big cities but in quieter places as well. In Silverton, Ore. (population, 7,500), a 20-year-old Irish immigrant, Andrew Hanlon, described by friends and family as suffering from paranoia and delusions, was shot and killed by a police officer investigating a report that Hanlon was trying to break into a residence on June 30. The officer who shot Hanlon told a grand jury—which voted not to indict him—that he thought Hanlon had wielded a broken bottle. At a candlelight vigil attended by 100 people, friends of the deceased man questioned the use of deadly force, saying that the police should have known the man was more of a local character than an actual threat and that he was banging on doors, not trying to break into anyone's home. The killing drew international attention. The same cannot be said about the shooting death, nine days later, of a homeless, emotionally disturbed 40-year-old Newark, N.J., man, Francisco Martes, who was shot by police after allegedly waving a knife at an officer. This more "typical" EDP incident garnered little press coverage beyond the usual police-blotter report.

Experts on treatment say the police for the most part do a good job handling the millions of interactions they have each year with the mentally ill. But is it irresponsible to ask them to undertake duties that perplex even trained, savvy professionals? "The police are not meant to be street-corner psychologists," says Dr. Linda A. Teplin of Northwestern University, one of the authors of the 2005 report about mentally ill crime victims. She notes the chronic shortage of beds for the mentally ill in treatment facilities, something that results in fewer stays, shorter stays and the reality that "you have to be extremely mentally ill" to get one of them. There is also a pressing need for more housing for this population. For law enforcement, experts say more training and more nonlethal weapons such as the controversial Taser could be beneficial.

Following the deaths of two people in Rhode Island this year in separate encounters with police, Rep. Patrick Kennedy secured a grant of $200,000 to enhance police training for responding to the mentally disturbed. After a third person, a man in police custody, died, Kennedy called for the creation of a statewide crisis-intervention team that would be available to handle cases of emotionally disturbed individuals.