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Police as 'front-line responders' to mentally ill in crisis Experts weigh in on training, use of Tasers during encounters that are becoming a daily occurrence for many officers

Omaha World-Herald - 6/14/2017

Slow down. Give the person space. Talk to him respectfully.

That's how police are advised to respond to an uncooperative person - someone like Zachary Bearheels - who is mentally ill. The primary goal: De-escalate the situation.

Doing so may require involving an officer who is specially trained in handling someone experiencing a mental health crisis, law enforcement officials and criminal justice scholars told The World-Herald last week.

Omaha police officers' handling of Bearheels went against best practices and the department's own policies and procedures for dealing with mentally ill people.

The 29-year-old Oklahoma man was refusing to leave an Omaha convenience store before his confrontation with police. Bearheels died early Monday after officers shocked him 12 times with a Taser, punched him repeatedly and dragged him by his hair. Bearheels' mother said her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer announced Friday he has recommended that two of the four officers involved be fired.

Officer Scotty Payne shocked Bearheels with a Taser, and Officer Ryan McClarty repeatedly punched him. The World-Herald has learned they are the officers whom Schmaderer intends to fire.

"In this incident, despite our extensive training, we failed," Schmaderer said.

Law enforcement officers need to be well trained to respond to whatever scenario they may encounter, said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Every situation involving a person going through a mental health crisis is different, law enforcement officials say. There are no cookie-cutter answers.

"The reality around the country is police are the front-line responders to those in mental crisis," Honberg said. "These encounters point to a real problem."

Schmaderer said his officers come into contact with mentally ill people several times a day and use their training every day. He referred to "deficiencies in addressing mental illness in our country."

"Mental illness is a complex issue, and being mentally ill in and of itself is not a crime, nor should it ever be," he said. "Too often, law enforcement is left to deal one on one with an individual who is mentally ill."

According to data collected by the Washington Post in 2015, one in four people killed by police that year was having a mental or emotional crisis. Another study, by the Treatment Advocacy Center, found that those with severe psychiatric disease are 16 times more likely than the general public to die in an encounter with law enforcement.

"We have a lot of contact with people with mental illness. It's become a daily thing we deal with," said Officer Angela Sands, spokeswoman for Lincoln police. "We are trained to slow our brain down, but there's only so much you can do when you have to make a split-second decision - and everybody will spend the next few years analyzing what you did in that split second."

Each of the four officers involved in the Omaha incident has less than five years of law enforcement experience. Schmaderer said he hopes to hire senior officers from other law enforcement agencies to add more experience to the force. He also wants to enhance field supervision and give officers refresher training.

Officer Jennifer Strudl was the only responding officer who had special training in crisis intervention to deal with mentally ill people. At one point, when officers had Bearheels pinned against a display of water bottles in front of the convenience store, Strudl tried to use de-escalation techniques, Schmaderer said.

Such techniques can include talking calmly, using clear directions and giving the person as much distance as possible.

"They couldn't (give Bearheels space) on that occasion" because he was handcuffed, the chief said. "It did seem, at least on some of the audio, that some element of trying to calm him down and get him to go to the cruiser in a proper way was taking place verbally."

But Schmaderer said other actions by the officers "were not in accordance with our policies and training."

According to the Omaha department's guidelines, officers are not to deploy a Taser multiple times unless the person is continuing to resist.

"We train to deploy the Taser three times," Schmaderer said. "If it is not effective the third time, we need to transition to something else."

Despite training and knowledge of procedures, officers can become so focused they continue deploying the Taser, even when it's not getting the desired results, said Ed Byers, a doctoral student in criminal justice at the University of Louisville and a 31-year law-enforcement veteran.

"They can't not press the button (again), because it's supposed to work," Byers said.

Sgt. Sean Hess, a member of the crisis intervention team squad for the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, said repeatedly using a Taser doesn't make it more effective.

"After a couple of times, if the Taser isn't working, you need to move on to other tactics," Hess said.

In Taser training, officers aren't dealing with a chaotic environment or a target who may have health problems or be experiencing a mental health crisis.

Coroners often have attributed Taser deaths to "excited delirium," a condition in which a person, whether because of mental illness or drug use, becomes violent, hyper-aggressive, agitated and feverish.

Whether that would apply in Bearheels' case is not yet known. Schmaderer said he's still awaiting autopsy and toxicology results, though blunt-force trauma has been ruled out as a cause of death.

A "significant portion," though not all, of fatal Taser incidents involve repeated shocks, Byers said. Of those who died, roughly 79 percent had mental health issues or were displaying erratic behavior.

"Officers who are responding to someone in crisis should always be under the assumption that there are physiological factors that might get worse if they are tased," said Honberg, of the mental illness alliance.

Byers said people having mental health episodes should be handled in a manner similar to that of a barricaded person. A trained officer should be brought in, similar to a skilled hostage negotiator.

"I would establish a perimeter, get people out of the way," Byers said. "Take time and talk to the individual, keep at a safe distance. ... Keep your hands open. Keep your voice pleasant."

Even when everything is done according to procedure, Sands, of the Lincoln police, said officers still may have to resort to using a Taser to protect themselves, the public or the person having the episode.

Every Lincoln patrol officer carries a Taser and is told to use it only to respond to active aggression and to "evaluate the situation" before using a Taser more than once. Under department policy, officers are advised that "exposure to a Taser for longer than 15 seconds ... may increase risk of death or serious injury."

Many departments have specialized officers, like Strudl, who can be called to respond when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. Ideally these officers, usually referred to as members of a crisis intervention team, should initiate contact with the person, said Risdon Slate, a professor of criminal justice at Florida Southern College.

Schmaderer said that in Bearheels' case, no one, including Strudl, took charge of the situation.

Tasers shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary, Byers said.

"It's designed to be used in lieu of lethal force," Byers said, "where there's a very serious possibility of serious injury or death."

Honberg said normal police responses to control a situation - such as restraining an individual or yelling demands - may be "the exact opposite of what someone with delusions is going to respond to."

"I'm cognizant of the fact that we are asking a lot of police officers - asking them to be able to identify and then respond to someone who is acting unpredictably," he said.

Honberg said every case of a mentally ill person being killed by law enforcement raises questions.

"Maybe the biggest one, though," he said, "is 'Why are police facing the burden of responding to so many of these mental health crises?' "

andrew.nelson@owh.com, 402-444-1310,

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