Police learn to spot, respond to mental illness

Detective Jason Klaus of the Perry County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Department went on a call Wednesday involving a man walking along Interstate 55, and he said the use of crisis-intervention techniques helped save the man’s life.

The story was part of Klaus’ presentation on crisis-intervention training Thursday at the Southeast Missouri Regional Suicide Prevention and Awareness Conference.

Klaus and his partner responded to the call about the man walking north in the southbound lane of I-55 because the Perry County road officers were handling other calls.

The man told Klaus he was not going to talk to the officers, who were not in uniform and in an unmarked car, because he thought they were FBI.

The man continually referred to a person Klaus said he believes exists only in the man’s imagination.

He refused to turn his back to either officer for fear they would shoot him in the back of the head.

“It did not take us long to figure out we had a situation,” Klaus said.

Klaus and his partner decided to shut down southbound I-55, and they were faced with the likely possibility of detaining the man by force.

Instead, Klaus’ partner asked the man about two women’s names tattooed on his forearms.

The man responded by engaging in a conversation and following the officers as they were backing up to their vehicle.

The man eventually agreed to sit in the back seat and be handcuffed.

“It’s about finding something you have in common with that person,” Klaus said.

The man was placed in the jail for processing and then became unresponsive, although he talked on the entire ride up the interstate.

He was transported to a hospital in Perryville, Missouri, and Klaus found out he had been high on PCP and was severely dehydrated from being on the road since 4 a.m.

The man’s girlfriend said he suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness.

Klaus said he pictured two other ways the situation could have gone: The man could have collapsed on the roadway and died of dehydration, or multiple officers could have responded and could have had to bring the man down, sustaining injuries in the process.

“CIT absolutely works,” Klaus said.

Crisis-intervention training involves various techniques to help officers identify people who are going through a mental-health crisis and communication skills to de-escalate the situation.

CIT also emphasizes getting people the help they need without sending them to jail.

“That’s not where people need to go to get appropriate care,” Klaus said.

Perry County law-enforcement agencies have been using CIT since 2014, and Cape Girardeau agencies organized their first local CIT training session in February after Lt. Rodney Barker expressed an interest to the Southeast Missouri CIT Council last year.

Cape Girardeau officers fill out specific CIT reports and return to check on those people with Community Counseling mental-health liaison Warren Skinner, Barker said.

Barker added the follow-ups have helped people stay on their medications.

“When people stay on their meds, it keeps the call down, and it gives them a better chance of getting a job and having a productive life,” Barker said.

Barker said instituting CIT has had a positive effect on the way officers approach these types of interactions.

“I think we’ve got officers out there now recognizing people having some sort of problem instead of a legal problem,” Barker said. “It will get officers to slow down.”

Cape Girardeau patrolman Amanda Rhodes recently attended a specific training about youths in crisis, and on her first days back Monday and Tuesday, she used lessons about building a rapport on two specific calls.

“CIT has helped us tremendously,” she said. “It’s about knowing what to say and when to say it or when to listen. It’s just being compassionate with the person and letting them know you care.”

Klaus said instituting CIT in law-enforcement agencies would be a positive step in establishing more positive relationships with the community, adding there has been an antagonistic relationship between officers and the public over the past couple of years.

“This is about a societal change, about how individuals treat each other,” Klaus said. “I don’t want to say it’s the next great thing, but I really think it is.”

At least one member of Klaus’ audience wants CIT to expand.

Bruce Hanebrink is a unit manager at Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri.

He said he believes CIT training is on the horizon for corrections officers.

He estimates at least 80 percent of the more than 1,600 inmates at Southeast are suffering from some type of mental illness.

“I have seen it work,” Hanebrink said of CIT. “I’ve used some of it myself.”

bkleine@semissourian.com

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