Spotlight report: Police often only option with broken mental health care system
The Boston Globe
’s Spotlight Team released the second installment of its latest investigation Wednesday into the effects of the state’s decision to close antiquated mental health hospitals without creating a support system to replace them.
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The investigation found that without adequate community-based care, mental health crises often escalate to result in encounters police. The Spotlight Team found in many of the cases where a person who was mentally ill or showing signs of a crisis was injured or fatally shot by police, there were opportunities to head off the confrontation missed by the mental health care system.
In the last 10 years, more than 40 percent of people killed by police in Massachusetts were suicidal, mentally ill, or showing signs of crisis, the Spotlight Team found. Between 2005 and 2015, 31 of the 74 men and women fatally-shot by police were suicidal or showed signs of mental illness. And in 10 cases the person was shot by officers after relatives or friends called 911, requesting help for someone who was threatening or attempting suicide.
“Clearly, we have a lot of people walking around with mental health issues, and not enough beds and institutions,” Police Commissioner William Evans told the Globe. “Years ago, many of them were forced out onto the street, and we’re the ones who are left to deal with it.”
Read the full report at the Globe.
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