WLOX-TV and WLOX.com - Building South Mississippi Together |Mental health proposal gathers support
Member Center:
By Steve Phillips - bio | email
HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - A homeless man with mental health problems causes a commotion at a shopping center. Police are called and make an arrest.
The man who caused the disturbance, despite his mental health issues, is sent to the county jail.
A chancery court judge wants to give responding officers a better alternative than jail.
Judge Margaret Alfonso urged county supervisors to support legislation that would give trained police officers the authority to have people with mental health issues evaluated, rather than simply locking them up.
"They would be able to place a 72 hour hold on that individual by picking the individual up and taking them to the crisis stabilization unit for evaluation," said Judge Alfonso.
Under existing law, police officers are limited when responding to such situations. Sending that person to jail is often the end result.
The proposed law would give the officer an alternative.
"It lets law enforcement treat mentally ill individuals differently. And they need to be treated differently than criminals," said mental health professional, Michael Maxie.
Judge Alfonso told the board police chiefs she's talked with strongly support the proposal. Arresting somebody who may be mentally ill not only adds a lot of unnecessary paperwork for an officer, it also adds to the problem of overcrowding at the Harrison County jail.
"It eliminates putting a lot of these people inside our facility where we have major problems. And this simplifies the whole process," said Sheriff Melvin Brisolara.
"A win-win situation. It's not eliminating law enforcement, but it's an avenue we can go down to get the help that a person needs," said Rodney McGilvary with the Biloxi P.D.
"There are a lot of times, especially in our area, someone is seen on the street and it's obvious they need help. Then they end up going to the jail because law enforcement is involved. Then they come to us anyway," said Maxie.
Supervisors agreed to draw up a resolution supporting the proposed new law.
Comments Terms of Use: We welcome your participation in our community. Please keep your comments civil and on point. Notify us of any inappropriate comments by clicking the “Mark as Offensive” link. You must be at least 13 years of age to post comments. By submitting a comment, you agree to these
Terms of Service
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login or register See all comments |
