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Sheriff's Role in Arresting the Mental Illness Crisis

NCJ Number
199432
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 53 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2001 Pages: 38-40
Author(s)
Mary Zdanowicz J.D.
Date Published
May 2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
After an overview of the increasing problem of law enforcement's dealings with persons having untreated mental illness, this article describes the efforts of Seminole County's (Florida) Sheriff's Department in addressing this problem.
Abstract
The initial wave of deinstitutionalization of individuals from State psychiatric hospitals into the community during the 1960's to 1980's was not accompanied by an adequate investment in community mental health services. State hospital closures continued at a rapid pace between 1990 and 1999. Consequently, data show that more than one million people with schizophrenia and manic depressive illness are not being treated on any given day. These individuals are more likely to experience homelessness, suicide, incarceration, victimization, and violence. For years, law enforcement agencies have been the primary public agency that has dealt with this crisis, as officers have responded to individuals who have become psychotic and sometimes dangerous. In response to the manifestations of this serious problem in Seminole County, Sheriff Donald Eslinger successfully lobbied the county board of commissioners to obtain authorization to allocate inmate pay-phone revenues for mental health and substance abuse services. He also implemented the Memphis model of crisis intervention teams (CIT) and took it one step further. CIT officers consult and coordinate with deputies in the jail and community corrections officers to ensure follow-up in the community after a mentally ill offender is released from jail. Sheriff Eslinger chairs Florida's Partners in Crisis, which was established in 1998 to address the mental illness crisis in Florida. This is a coalition of various stakeholders, including judges, law enforcement officers, corrections administrators, clerks of courts, State attorneys, public defenders, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, and people with mental illness and their families. Partners in Crisis is working to reform State policies and law to make treatment accessible to those who need it most. Raising public awareness of the problem is another goal to which the sheriff is committed. This is a crisis that can be addressed with innovative solutions that appropriately stem from community-oriented policing and the community leadership role of sheriffs.