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Alan Gionet is a reporter for CBS News Colorado. Read his latest reports or check out his bio and send him an email.
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Some police get free training for dealing with people with mental health issues and disabilities
A Colorado-supported program to train police officers and sheriff deputies in handling people with mental health and disabilities is getting strong attendance from some departments, while some others are not participating. The all-day, eight-hour training session run by Pulse Line Collaborative is offered for free under a grant. However, that grant money is currently set to run out at the end of June, with some departments skipping the training offer.
There is some re-thinking to policing in the class, points out Ali Thompson, CEO and chief development and training officer for Pulse Line, "What we've taught our officers for decades is ask, tell, make. You ask someone to do it, then you tell them to do it, and then you make them do it."
The outcomes can be bad with people who may have mental health or developmental disabilities.
"When they don't immediately comply with officers, the officers don't know what to do, so they go hands-on, following that training, and then the fight is on. And that converts into resisting, obstruction and assault on a peace officer," said Thompson.
Thompson is a former law enforcement officer who has two children with disabilities, including a 17-year-old son.
"He is six-two. Big kid. He has autism. He does not immediately appear to have a disability, and even though he's grown up around cops, he loses his verbal ability when he's stressed out."
All of the Pulse Line instructors have connections with people with disabilities.
The money for the program comes from a grant through the Colorado Fines Committee. It was established by a consent decree after a lawsuit brought by a disability rights group in Colorado. The issue was the long waitlist times for people who need evaluations and competency restored to face criminal charges. The state has paid millions in fines over the years due to people with mental health and disability problems waiting in jails for extended periods. The Colorado Fines Committee distributes funds to try to "deflect individuals from the competency system."
The state has seen its share of poor outcomes, including Elijah McClain, Christian Glass, and Karen Garner.
"After the tragedies, it's too late. We need to proactively get in front of these and teach our officers tools because that's what's missing. That's what I identified as an officer. Nobody has taught these officers these tools in the past," said Thompson.
The first department to seek the training was the Douglas County Sheriff, after deputies had difficulties handling an autistic middle schooler. Others have followed, including the Boulder County Sheriff, Loveland, Arvada, and Colorado State Patrol.
But some other departments have turned down the offer.
"Denver initially agreed to do 40 classes, to host 40 classes, and then they pulled out of that, and then they were going to have one, just to see how it went," said Thompson. "There were not enough officers for us to hold the class. We have a minimum threshold of 10 officers in order to hold a class."
Aurora has also not participated.
"Aurora Police Department initially said, yes, we will bring you in. And we had a meeting scheduled, and the gentleman that we were supposed to meet with did not show up for that meeting," said Thompson.
"For our officers, if they wish to expand upon related skills they've trained on in the past," said police spokesman Doug Schepman in an email. "This is a voluntary option for officers since they participate in mandatory Crisis Intervention Training. I'm also aware of a training being developed in partnership with another city agency on this same topic for our Academy classes."
Joe Moylan of Aurora Police said, "This is not at all something that has fallen off the radar."
He noted that officers did scenario-based training at the academy and has a crisis response team paired with mental health calls.
"This might be another thing to add to the toolbox, and we might start exploring it," said Moylan.
Boulder County Sheriff's Deputy Sarah Cox explained how she used the training last week. There was a dispute between a mother and autistic young teenage son who was getting aggressive.
"I kind of figured something was up, and then mom was like no he was non-verbal, he's non-verbal," said Cox. The deputy immediately slowed things down.
"Unfortunately, there were some situations in his life that have changed, that helped trigger some of this," she said. Law officers separated them and later took the young teenager to Children's Hospital. The training helped, said Cox.
"It gave me a different perspective on their view of us and how scared they can be interacting with law enforcement."
While the training is free to departments, it is not required under Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training, known as POST. And there is a cost in the hours lost. Thompson says they test law officers before and after and see marked improvement. Departments that are dealing with the realities of bad outcomes also have a way of defending themselves when things go wrong.
"That is the first question that comes up in every lawsuit, 'Did you provide training for your officers on disability awareness and interacting with people with disabilities?' And we've given everybody the opportunity to say yes to that now."
