Davis: More focus on mental health
City police chief says the needs of suspects and of officers require attention
Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Thursday that police agencies need to increase training and adjust practices to better deal with people suffering from mental illness, and also need to improve mental health services for their own officers.
“Our job as police officers is much different than when I started 25 years ago,” Davis said to law enforcement and mental health professionals at the 2016 Crime, Violence and Mental Illness Conference, held at Anne Arundel Community College.
He said police increasingly face people with mental health problems and need training to handle those situations.
“Most solutions to the issues our society faces have nothing to do with handcuffs,” he said.
Davis has been city police commissioner since his predecessor, Anthony W. Batts, was fired following the unrest in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray.
He previously served as chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. That county established crisis intervention teams in 2014 to assist residents with mental health issues.
He said the program was created after the department evaluated how it dealt with mentally disturbed suspects. Davis said the review included one incident in which a Taser was used on a 49-year-old man with a mental illness in his home after he was mistaken for someone else.
“That was a wake-up moment for our organization,” he said.
Anne Arundel's crisis team works with civilian clinicians and responds to calls including potential suicides, death notifications and overdoses. The teams take what Davis called a “blended approach” to crises, including follow-up with families and referrals to mental health resources.
A county police spokesman said the team also follows up with individuals who repeatedly call 911 because of mental health problems, and tries to establish a rapport with them.
Davis said a similar approach is being implemented in Baltimore. The department has a crisis team, he said, with plans to expand.
The commissioner also spoke of efforts needed to address mental health concerns within police departments.
He told conference participants: “It's probably no surprise to you that police officers are disproportionately challenged with alcoholism, disproportionately involved in domestic violence.”
He said officers “live dysfunctional lives based on what we see every day and what we experience. … So how do we cope with that?”
Davis said he was surprised when he started work in the city to find there were no organizational psychologists. The department has contracted out for psychological services for officers.
He said money has been allocated in the department's budget for two psychologist positions.