The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
Officer Andrea Bryk has seen it often, particularly along the Oceanfront, where many of the city's homeless stay.
After running out of medication for a mental illness, a person begins acting erratically. Someone calls 911, and police arrive.
But rather than handcuff and haul the troubled person to jail, she and other officers are trying a new approach: listening.
The tactic is part of a new training program aimed at equipping Virginia Beach police, sheriff's deputies, and emergency dispatchers with communication skills to defuse tense situations.
Bryk, who learned the skills in March and is now helping lead training sessions in the Beach, said the program's ultimate goal is for more officers to divert people with mental health problems to treatment rather than to the city's jail.
"They're really good defusing techniques when you're trying to get to the bottom of why someone's upset," said Bryk, a patrol officer for nearly five years. Being jailed, instead of receiving treatment, usually makes the person's condition worse and keeps them in a cycle of poverty and crime, she said.
Federal statistics show more than half of all inmates in U.S. jails and prisons have a mental illness. Virginia Beach officials have spent the past few years trying to chart a different course, emphasizing treatment and counseling when an arrest isn't necessary, said Alexis Zoss. She is director of mental health and substance abuse services in the city's Department of Human Services, which is coordinating the program with the Police Department and sheriff's office.
A $100,000 federal grant and $30,000 in local money are funding the first year of the Crisis Intervention Team classes, curriculum development and other aspects of training, Zoss said. City officials can apply for the same federal grant for the next two years, she said.
About 35 patrol officers have taken the weeklong training since the program kicked off this year, she said. Officers take part in role-playing scenarios based on actual cases instructors have worked, including a depressed mother threatening to jump off a bridge, and a disturbed father infuriated by his ex-wife's refusal to let him visit his child.
Carolyn Wood, vice president of the state's chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, helped critique officers' handling of the situations during training last month.
"We're not asking them to be social workers," Wood said. "But there is a way to recognize anyone during a crisis, a way to approach them and talk to them and de-escalate (the situation)."
Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com
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LISTENING
What a break through. Maybe you could enlighten the Norfolk PD so they can properly handle the "hoola hoop" lady next time instead of tasing her over and over. I hope this program is a hugh success and will carry over to all other PD's.
Wonderful comments...mostly
I agree with all the comments on how this is an excellent program. It is sad to see that the only negative comment comes from vbemployee. I hope they are not an employee of the VBP. As a tree hugging, counselor, former employee at St. Brides CC, I often found that listening and not reacting when confronted by an emotional person really worked. Our police officers have a tough job and any 'tool' we can give them is great. The Officer and public will be in less danger by not escalating someone’s confusion or anger.
Give credit where it's due
This is a positive thing, and the VBPD should be credited for taking part in it.
It does not change the fact that, as a previous commenter noted, our mental health systems are underfunded and police and the jails end up being pressed into the task, despite their inadequacy. But any small steps like this could have real benefits in terms of preventing needless incarceration and criminalization of mentally ill people.
Can't hurt
The only thing to fear is fear itself. Fear of the unknown can cause officers to act inappropriately to the situation. The more they learn, the less unknown and less fear. The training can't be bad. At the worst the training can be useless, at best it can help.
Compassion and reason are infiltrating the VPD
This really makes me happy as the last thing these folks need is another traumatizing incident to their already fractured psyche.
Now, what can the City of Virginia Beach do to get that obnoxious, hell, fire and brimstone Baptist preacher screaming thru his bull horn off the streets of the resort strip?
It's Good To See This
While I don't expect any police officer to expose themselves or others to unnecessary risk, sometimes swarming someone with policemen, handcuffs and jail isn't the best answer-jail is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
I shudder to think what might happen to police budgets if mentally ill people started getting the help they needed.....
another great story, pilot!!
When I read the headline I thought I was about to read that Taser deployment was being expanded to include all officers with instructions that it is the first tool to use in cases of disorderly conduct, speeding, cardiac arrest and Downs' Syndrome. Boy, I was surprised. If the PD runs with this Sudden Outbreak of Common Sense, our taxpayers will have fewer civil judgments and settlements to fund.
What a Great Monday!!
C.I.T What a joke
This class is a joke. It is just a bunch of tree huggers trying to make the PD a bunch of sissies. The problem in not the PD but the mental health system. There is not enough funding to give the appropriate care to the mentally ill. It is much cheaper to jail them then house them in hospital. They can get help in jail.
Negative comments on a positive program
Good for the police department. The program should go a long way toward neutralizing difficult situations and, perhaps, educating the public.
C.I.T., have you attended the classes you call a joke, and if not, on what do you base your opinion? Additionally, why are you casting aspersions on city employees?
Tree huggers?
You seem very confused. Tree huggers are usually understood to be environmentalists. People with human compassion are usually refered to as bleeding hearts. If you are going to use prejudiced slurs at least get it right. You must be a city worker.