This intervention puts the federal government, which handles prosecutions in Washington, D.C., in the midst of a long-term local and national effort to more effectively respond to psychiatric emergencies, especially as the homeless population grows. You will be killed.
“The Department of Justice is concerned nationally about serious violations of the rights of people with disabilities by the failure of local governments to ensure mental health responses to mental health crises.” said Michael Perloff, an attorney with the American Civil Center. The Washington DC Freedom Coalition, along with Bread for the City, sued the city in July. “Exactly those issues are happening in the District of Columbia.”
Bread for the City, a local agency that provides food, medical care, clothing, and other necessities to people in need, says that calling 911 is “ineffective and harmful,” and that the psychological He said dealing with the global crisis is draining resources. The city has mental health clinicians and certified peer support specialists, but “failed to provide adequate funding, training, and coordination to adequately staff and support these teams,” the complaint says. ”. Washington, D.C.’s homeless population is growing, and so is the demand for mental health crisis assistance.
In 2021, D.C. launched a pilot program to divert some mental health calls from police to unarmed behavioral health professionals. But less than 1 percent of 911 calls for mental health emergencies in Washington, D.C., resulted in a clinical response, according to a lawsuit filed last year. Instead, people in mental distress are routinely encountered by armed police officers, who are said to have “unnecessarily handcuffed people, used excessive force, etc.” “frequently exacerbates the trauma experienced by individuals in crisis,” the complaint states.
in Reply to questions Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s office said in a statement from last year’s D.C. Council that “only a small portion of those potentially eligible.” [911] “Reports” are forwarded from police to behavioral health staff, with 327 out of 1.2 million reported in 2022, a “promising start.”washington dc police To tell Although all police officers receive either mental health first aid or crisis intervention training, plaintiffs argue that these programs are no substitute for career professionals or peer counselors with lived experience. ing.
The lawsuit “aims to eliminate harmful barriers in the existing system so that people with disabilities have equal opportunities to participate and benefit,” Justice Department lawyers said. wrote in a court filing.. “this is, [Americans With Disabilities Act] requirements. “
Ministry of Justice In their court filing, the lawyers stressed that the federal government is “not taking a position” on the case overall, and like the Washington city attorney, people with mental health conditions are not discriminated against. By arguing that, Washington, D.C., is simply arguing that it cannot have the lawsuit dismissed. People with disabilities have access to emergency physical care just like everyone else. The city said expanding mental health emergency response is a request for “new services” and that it is “a policy discussion, not a legal argument.”
The Justice Department responded that such a limited view is “inconsistent with the interconnected nature” of government services and “serves to obscure otherwise obvious discrimination.” In a news release announcing that it was reviewing the lawsuit, the Justice Department said the federal investigation: minneapolis and Louisville It concluded that the police response to a mental health crisis was unlawful and discriminatory.
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office and the D.C. Police Department declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. The police union did not respond to requests for comment.
The city responded in a court filing that it has “already made significant progress” to improve its response to mental health emergencies, but that failure to do so does not amount to actionable discrimination. . The Washington, D.C., police union also opposed the lawsuit, saying “police response is always necessary due to the inherent threat to the health and safety of the individual, those around him, and the officers surrounding him.”
Between 2019 and 2021, at least 178 people were killed by police who were called to help in a mental health crisis, according to a national investigation by The Washington Post. In response to the death of George Floyd in 2020 and nationwide protests against excessive use of force by police, many large cities started the experiment including ways to reduce police involvement in mental health crises;with denver Eugene, Oregon.is often cited as a model for unarmed intervention.
The judge overseeing the case, Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee, also handles long-running cases. claim Washington, D.C., does not provide mental health treatment, including emergency crisis support, to children of low-income parents as required by law, making them more likely to end up in psychiatric hospitals or prisons. It is said that there is.The city is finding That lawsuit too.
