- In Slate’s State of Mind, Joshua Branch writes, “One of the earliest memories from my childhood is of watching my sister, Julie, attempt to die by suicide during a mental health crisis.” Police responded to calls for Julie “more than 10 times in a little under a year” as her mental health worsened, but she “was never arrested, and no charges were ever filed.” Branch, whose father was an NYPD officer, and believes that fact curried special favor, acknowledges that “officers giving such grace is almost unheard-of in communities of color.” Indeed,
“Police relationships with communities of color are often fraught. Throw mental illness into the mix and things are even worse. People experiencing a mental health crisis are 16 times more likely to be met with deadly force and make up half of police fatalities. This, of course, complicated things for my parents. No one ever wants to call crisis hotlines or police on their child. Doubly so if that mentally ill child is a person of color in a largely white community.”
- In a lengthy new essay, three medical school professors at the University of Washington School of Medicine urge leaders to address “a significant lack of unarmed mobile crisis response across the country” as a step on the pathway to making 911 safer for Black youth:
“The current standard of care is for mental health professionals to advise patients and families to call 911 in case of an acute life-threatening psychiatric emergency, such as suicidal ideation or aggressive behavior … [However,] “ultimately, a 911 call may not be the safest option for mental health crises, especially for Black youth … [P]olice are more likely to be dispatched to psychiatric emergencies than mental health professionals or EMS, making law enforcement the de facto gatekeepers to safety-net mental health services … [Yet,] [y]oung Black males were found to be 9 times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police … [and] [i]ndividuals of any race diagnosed with a severe mental illness account for an estimated 25–50% of fatal police encounters…”