PUBLIC STATEMENT
November 2, 2020
The recent shooting and killing by police of a man in Philadelphia, who apparently was mentally ill, is deeply disturbing. While all the facts may still not be known at this time, questions can be raised about whether there was another option other than lethal force? Was there any recognition that this man was in the throes of a mental health crisis rather acting as a criminal? Was any effort made to de-escalate the situation? Was a mental health professional called to assist? Did these police officers have proper training in interacting with a person who may have been manifesting symptoms of a serious mental illness?
We believe that it is in the best interest of all parties and is absolutely essential that every police officer have appropriate training and retraining as well as the availability of clinical resources in order to safely manage people in crisis.
We recognize that several police departments in RI have successfully dealt with such challenges in the past, oftentimes on their own and sometimes with assistance from mental health professionals. We applaud these efforts.
But, we think that there is a need to establish a system in which all police officers in RI have been sufficiently trained and received appropriate certification to act decisively and effectively in providing on-the-spot responses that will alleviate an otherwise very tense and dangerous situation. We are NOT suggesting that police officers become clinicians, but rather that they have some rudimentary tools that will help them to de-escalate a potentially volitive incident.
Because we have seen so many Philadelphia-like tragedies that were averted because properly-trained police officers were on the scene, we will be asking individuals with mental illness, law enforcement leaders, municipalities, and the RI General Assembly to join with us in fashioning protocols that will assure favorable outcomes in these stressful situations.
