Police Blotter
August 4, 2020
Why do police officers respond to mental health issues? Why aren’t mental health professionals being involved or responding to these calls instead? Why don’t we divert money to those programs instead of to police programs? All good questions. Has anyone bothered to ask the mental health professional community? We did and had some very constructive conversations. Let’s answer the first question about why police officers respond in the first place. We respond because state law gives us the authority to detain someone against their will if they are a danger to themselves or others. We respond because we have the ability to force entry to homes when it is an emergency. We respond because we are there, available and trained. Mental health doesn’t work 24/7 and there isn’t enough call volume to warrant the expense of doing so. We have a lot of training and experience in dealing with people in chaotic, unpredictable situations.
So, why aren’t mental health professionals being involved or responding to these calls? They are, just not in the field, where it’s not always safe to interact with a person having a mental health crisis. We responded to 135 Welfare Checks and 45 Suicidal Subjects last year. Many of those were referred, and in some cases given rides, to get mental health treatment. We had some discussion with mental health about having their people respond to the field to interact with clients. We agreed that if this were to happen a police officer would first have to make it safe and in some instances remain to ensure it stays that way. At some point, however, if the intervention goes south or the person needs to be taken on an involuntary hold, someone needs to put hands on the person and bring them to the hospital for further treatment and evaluation. That person is the police officer who is trained to forcibly detain someone. You won’t see your therapist out there wrestling with a patient. That’s not where their skills lie, not where they want to be, and would destroy their relationship with the patient.
Our takeaway from this discussion was that we can improve and enhance our working relationship with mental health, but we still need a police officer for the initial response and for any involuntary hold.
Here are a couple of other fun facts. Did you know mental health has roughly the same number of psychologists on staff as we have patrolman? Did you know we took about 20 people on Involuntary Mental Holds last year. Did you know we brought them in without significant injury? Did you know one of your JPD officers was stabbed with a pen this year while doing one of these detentions? Dealing with someone in a mental health crisis can be unpredictable and dangerous. It’s not a place we want our mental health professionals to be unless there is a police officer there to ensure their safety.
Enough blather. On to the blotter!
20080383: On August 4, 2020, at 7:38 a.m., we responded to a disturbance. When we arrived, we found that an adult son and his father had gotten into an altercation. The altercation started when the father confronted the son about being intoxicated. The intoxicated son struck his father several times before we arrived. As a result, we had to arrest the 32 year old Jackson, WY man for Domestic Battery.
20080498: On August 4, 2020, at 9:10 p.m., we responded to a report of Sexual Assault. We made sure the victim was safe and called victim advocates to assist. We realize talking with law enforcement is probably the last thing a victim want to do, so the advocate is there to provide information, assistance, and be a resource. As the name would imply, they advocate on behalf of the victim from the start to the finish. Kudos to our CSN and Victim Services advocates. This is an active investigation and we cannot release any further information at this time.
20080501: On August 4, 2020, at 9:08 p.m., we responded to the Cowboy bar for a report of a False ID. When we arrived, we found a cooperative young man who admitted his ID was fake. We gave the 20 year old Sonoma, CA man a citation and let him be on his way.
20080502: On August 4, 2020, at 9:11 p.m., we responded to the Cowboy bar for a report of a False ID. You’ll notice this happened about the same time as the one previous. While we were there, the staff at the Cowboy informed us of another one. We wrote a citation to the very nice 19 year old lady from Sacramento, CA and let her be on her way as well.
Here is the other stuff we did.
Totals Description
2 Abandoned Vehicle
1 Citizen Assist
1 Code Enforcement
3 Collision
1 Collision with Injury
1 Disturbance
1 Driving Complaint
4 False Identification
2 Fire Alarm - Carbon Monoxide Residential
1 Fire Alarm - Commercial
3 Fire Alarm - Residential
1 Follow Up PATROL Investigation
1 Littering
2 Medical Assist
3 Parking Complaint
2 Parking Rounds
1 Public Intoxication
1 Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately
1 Sexual Assault
1 Suspicious Circumstances
3 Traffic Stop
2 Vehicle Identification Number Inspection
1 Welfare Check
39 Totals