Part 2: The Welfare Call
A Closer Look: Welfare Call- 72 hour hold- how police respond makes a difference. The role of the 911 Operator.
As we work to make psychiatric and mental health care legal, safer, more grounded in truth and more dignified for all, one person and one patient at a time, I invite you to read the second report on the Welfare Call and 72 hour hold.
Recommendations:
All Police Departments should have training on Mental Health Welfare Calls like Mental Health First Aid as given by NAMI and Fairview Health and the departments should take steps to assure that the calls and behavior of the officers are constitutional and that constitutional rights to freedom are preserved and that all aspects of the statute are met prior to placing someone on a 72 hour hold and that holds should be done “by the book”.
That 911 operators screen and de-escalate the people who make welfare calls as they may have their own anxiety and it may not truly be a crisis situation. Ground them in the minute. Ask key questions to ascertain if the situation is a crisis and let the caller and the police officers know the facts. Get the facts.
If the situation proceeds to the commitment process, the officers should be compelled to testify. This will help assure that constitutional rights are protected as intended by statute. The hospitals and courts should not just infer that statutes were upheld and that the person was a threat to self or others as this is frequently as practiced now not the case with the police. The courts should believe the victim of the civil commitment process if they state otherwise unless the police come to testify. This is how it is for a traffic ticket and that doesn’t have the power to take away rights.
Justified by:
EMERGENCY HOLDS: Minn. Stat. §253B.05.
When can an emergency hold be used?
An emergency hold is used when an examiner, peace officer or health officer has good reason to believe that you have a mental illness and are going to harm yourself or others. If you are brought to a hospital by a health or peace officer and the hospital agrees you have symptoms of mental illness and it appears you are going to harm yourself or others, the facility may admit you.
Source: MN Ombudsman Office (See attached Emergency Hold MN document)
Before current reforms, simply having a mental illness was justification enough for a 72 hour hold and even commitment. As society realized the harm in this and as more of society has “mental illness” approximately 25 percent of the population now has what can be construed as a mental illness, the statutes were changed to include harm to self or others. Please see attached article on 72 hour hold.
Unfortunately in practice, this addition to the statute is often neglected and the person may be placed on a hold simply for allegedly having a mental illness diagnosis, even if the illness is not manifesting itself at the time. There might be so much anxiety amongst those making the 911 call for a welfare check or the police, that they neglect to assess the situation and preserve the constitutional rights of the person for whom the call is made. When situations gets escalated instead of de-escalated, tragedy can result. Tragedy doesn’t always manifest itself with a dead body but rather can manifest itself with a person unduly being committed and having their freedom taken away when no such action is warranted. This type of tragedy is rarely reported but it is akin to civilian casualties in war in that it is symptomatic of behavior that is not properly targeted and is over kill. It matters even it is not tabulated or reported because life and freedom matter.
Xxxx has been the recipient of five welfare calls in MN, three in Eden Prairie, one in Bloomington and one in Edina. Three of the calls resulted inappropriately in xxxx being placed on a 72 hour hold and all three of these led to the civil commitment process and were used to justify the civil commitment process.
In 2013, One call that xxxx made for xxxx had the police take xxxx to a hospital without a hold and XXXX was calmed down and released that day.
Two of the calls were made by family members. On one call in Dec. of 2011, xxxx went willingly and was not told XXXX was placed on a hold. You are supposed to be told and given the paper work. This resulted in much confusion at the ER. Xxxx was not a danger to xxxx or anyone else. On the other call in the Summer of 2013, a family member mistakenly thought xxxx was going to hurt xxxx. Xxxx was eating a roast beef sandwich when the police came and insisted on taking xxxx away against XXXX’s will. This violation caused a great deal of distrust to develop between my family and xxxx that has taken years to heal. Both of these calls resulted in the Civil Commitment process being activated.
In April of 2018, two calls were made on the same day. One in Bloomington and one in Edina. Xxxx had spent the night at a hotel in Bloomington.
Xxxx was actually less coherent in Bloomington when xxxx met with police than xxxx was later in the day when I tried to dismiss the Edina Police officers by telling them xxxx was ok. Unbeknownst to xxxx xxxx’x thyroid was ten times its normal range which can cause issues in thinking and xxxx had a stressor from a family member.
In Bloomington, XXXX was sitting in the hotel lobby not sure what to do. XXXX was thinking about going to Florida to see XXXX’s family but XXXX and xxxx’s family were estranged. A welfare call was made and the Bloomington police came and were very gentle and used their first names with xxxx. They asked xxxx if XXXX were ok and what XXXX wanted to do. XXXX said XXXX would take a taxi to my apartment and they let xxxx go.
XXXX took a taxi to XXXX’s apartment and was almost even going to have the taxi driver take xxxx to his doctor. XXXX did not have a primary care physician because my health got so complicated due to poisoning from the drug Abilify and to previous civil commitment processes.
XXXX was not xxxx’s self at XXXX’s apartment and xxxxx did not want to enter XXXX’s unit. XXXX had a temporary phobia. XXXX’s neighbors were concerned and contacted the property manager. The property manager got frightened and her fears got the best of her and dominated the situation. She thought XXXX was suicidal yet never asked xxxx. It is important to ask the person if you believe this, even for the sake of your own anxiety and to deal with the facts. She called counselors and XXXX told the counselors they were not needed, as they weren’t.
Xxxx fought XXXX’s fear, went into XXXX’s apartment, took a bath and was coming out to tell the property manager XXXX was ok when XXXX walked into the police right outside XXXX’s door. XXXX may have startled them by walking right into them. XXXX told the officer that XXXX was ok and that they weren’t needed and the officer then told xxxx he was going to put xxxx in handcuffs and he did. Like XXXX said, XXXX may have startled them by walking into them when XXXX came out of my apartment. The process of putting xxxx in handcuffs was very painful and one officer grabbed the front of both of XXXX’s arms between the elbow and shoulder and left black and blue even green bruises. XXXX told the officer he was hurting me. This traumatized XXXX. XXXX was hurt and putting me in hand cuffs for no reason.
The officer then called for an ambulance and XXXX was scared. Frightened of the civil commitment process and psychological abuse. XXXX had written a note about one week prior a self-inventory note of previous traumas and XXXX asked the policeman to go and get the note from xxxx’s apartment. The police did not get the note and the note or notion of it somehow got misconstrued as a suicide note. No one asked me if XXXX were suicidal and XXXX wasn’t. Xxxx’s landlord asked XXXX if XXXX thought about harming XXXX and XXXX said no, yet she still persisted with her escalation of the situation.
The situation was overly escalated and constitutional rights were violated.
The Bloomington police website stresses that they offer constitutional care and they do.
Having talked to many other victims and a Minneapolis police department captain, I can tell you that the way the Edina and Eden Prairie police mishandled the situation is a common occurrence.
In the Civil commitment process police are not required to testify and the fact that they were involved is used to justify the commitment. This also prevents them from learning about the ramifications of their decisions to not protect constitutional rights. Constitutional rights.
The 911 Operator can play a major role in assuring that the situation is not escalated if they are thorough in their handling of the 911 call. Often they are not.
In three of the cases, the person making the call had anxiety about the situation which was their own anxiety and efforts were not made to ground them in reality or the moment by the 911 operator. They were not asked if XXXX were threatening anyone or threatening to commit suicide. This is a short coming which facilitated the escalation of the situation.
Sadly, this is not isolated to welfare calls alone. In the Justine Damon situation, had the 911 operator told Ms. Damon to stay in her house until the police come to her door and had the 911 operator instructed the police to go to her door the tragedy could have been avoided. Being thorough avoids tragedy. Ms. Damon was shot and killed by a police officer who was startled by her.
I have communicated my concerns to the Eden Prairie, Bloomington and Edina Police and the Edina Police chief agreed to provide training on the subject matter to his officers. I have also communicated my concern to the Commissioner of Police for the state of MN.
It is important that the courts be aware that the police take short cuts and do not preserve constitutional rights. I believe that the due process should require police to testify and allow for victims to face their accusers. The presumption that someone deserves to have their freedom taken away simply because they have previously been diagnosed with a mental illness does not meet statute and when remove due process, it is easy for the presumption to be perpetuated. This is wrong. This is irreparable damage. The US Supreme court has ruled that if our civil liberties are violated for just one instant it constitutes irreparable damage.
Freedom is an inhalable Gift from God and it deserves to be protected. Let’s pray for people that honor this. Let’s set our sights on doing all we can to assure that constitutional rights to freedom are protected.