LiberalNation
05-27-2007, 07:41 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070527/ap_on_re_us/taser_mentally_ill;_ylt=AmKkyL2cYsK6Fwp4n0C.TNZvzw cF
HOUSTON - Advocates for the mentally ill are questioning Houston police officers' use of stun guns on suspects with mental problems, many of whom were unarmed and then never charged with a crime.
Since officers started carrying Tasers in December 2004, nearly 130 people known or suspected to be mentally ill were shocked by officers responding to calls, according to a Houston Chronicle review of more than 1,000 incidents involving the stun gun.
The department also had its first Taser-related death recently that involved a mentally ill man, the newspaper reported Sunday.
Often, police knew they were responding to calls involving people with mental health issues but rarely called officers who are specially trained to deal with the mentally ill, according to police records.
"Using a Taser is easy," said Arlene Kelly, who became an outspoken advocate for the mentally ill after her daughter was shot and killed by a Houston police officer in 1999. "There's no waiting. There's no need to be patient with someone who may not understand orders. The Taser has represented a step backward in how police deal with the mentally ill."
Some of those stunned had committed violent crimes, threatened others or harmed themselves. But most were people who failed to follow officers' orders in the fog of their mental confusion, records show.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt said the use of Tasers has prevented dangerous situations from becoming deadly.
"Crisis-intervention training is a critical part of our approach to the mentally ill, and our officers are well aware of the necessity to use the minimum force necessary," Hurtt said.
The newspaper found that most of the mentally ill people shocked by police were not armed and fewer than one in four were later convicted of a crime.
One case involved a 63-year-old man who needed a metal walker to move around. Another involved Carol Ann Vickery, a 49-year-old woman with a history of bipolar disorder who disrupted a local convenience store. When police arrived, she picked up a can of soda as if to throw it. Police responded with three 50,000-volt shocks from a Taser.
"She may have gotten excited, but two male officers should be able to defuse a situation with one woman without pulling out a Taser," said Vickery's husband of 10 years, Tim Byus. "In this case, it's clear they did not try."
Some dispatchers fail to identify people experiencing mental problems and send untrained officers to those calls, said Lt. Michael Lee, who is in charge of the department's crisis-intervention team that was developed in 1999 to train officers how to calm people with mental illness.
Other circumstances do not allow officers to wait for support, he said.
"Most officers are using Tasers to prevent a situation from escalating, and that can happen very quickly," Lee said. "Sometimes de-escalation techniques just don't work."
The crisis-intervention team had 600 patrol officers and more than 100 officers in other divisions, but the force has since been depleted by retirement, transfers and other strains. Its ranks have dropped to 410 officers, less than 20 percent of those on patrol.
HOUSTON - Advocates for the mentally ill are questioning Houston police officers' use of stun guns on suspects with mental problems, many of whom were unarmed and then never charged with a crime.
Since officers started carrying Tasers in December 2004, nearly 130 people known or suspected to be mentally ill were shocked by officers responding to calls, according to a Houston Chronicle review of more than 1,000 incidents involving the stun gun.
The department also had its first Taser-related death recently that involved a mentally ill man, the newspaper reported Sunday.
Often, police knew they were responding to calls involving people with mental health issues but rarely called officers who are specially trained to deal with the mentally ill, according to police records.
"Using a Taser is easy," said Arlene Kelly, who became an outspoken advocate for the mentally ill after her daughter was shot and killed by a Houston police officer in 1999. "There's no waiting. There's no need to be patient with someone who may not understand orders. The Taser has represented a step backward in how police deal with the mentally ill."
Some of those stunned had committed violent crimes, threatened others or harmed themselves. But most were people who failed to follow officers' orders in the fog of their mental confusion, records show.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt said the use of Tasers has prevented dangerous situations from becoming deadly.
"Crisis-intervention training is a critical part of our approach to the mentally ill, and our officers are well aware of the necessity to use the minimum force necessary," Hurtt said.
The newspaper found that most of the mentally ill people shocked by police were not armed and fewer than one in four were later convicted of a crime.
One case involved a 63-year-old man who needed a metal walker to move around. Another involved Carol Ann Vickery, a 49-year-old woman with a history of bipolar disorder who disrupted a local convenience store. When police arrived, she picked up a can of soda as if to throw it. Police responded with three 50,000-volt shocks from a Taser.
"She may have gotten excited, but two male officers should be able to defuse a situation with one woman without pulling out a Taser," said Vickery's husband of 10 years, Tim Byus. "In this case, it's clear they did not try."
Some dispatchers fail to identify people experiencing mental problems and send untrained officers to those calls, said Lt. Michael Lee, who is in charge of the department's crisis-intervention team that was developed in 1999 to train officers how to calm people with mental illness.
Other circumstances do not allow officers to wait for support, he said.
"Most officers are using Tasers to prevent a situation from escalating, and that can happen very quickly," Lee said. "Sometimes de-escalation techniques just don't work."
The crisis-intervention team had 600 patrol officers and more than 100 officers in other divisions, but the force has since been depleted by retirement, transfers and other strains. Its ranks have dropped to 410 officers, less than 20 percent of those on patrol.