NORFOLK — Mental illness isn’t a crime, but sometimes it’s treated as one. That’s why Norfolk’s law enforcement leaders are training officers to identify mental illness and offer alternative treatments that don’t include jail time.
“If they have mental illness, it’s just like any other illness,” said Norfolk Sheriff Joseph Baron.
Norfolk Police Department officers are undergoing crisis intervention training, or CIT, which is a 40-hour course that teaches officers how to identify mental illness, de-escalate crisis situations and provide people with resources, said NPD Corp. and CIT manager, Jacqueline Munoz.
Since it was established in the summer of 2014, about half of the NPD’s 700 officers have taken the course. As of now, registration for the class is optional, but Munoz hopes to eventually make it mandatory.
Each CIT class also trains a number of Norfolk Sheriff’s Office deputies, Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University officers and police from Accomack County, Munoz said.
About 95 NPD officers are also part of the CIT unit, a part-time detail that answers psychiatric calls in the city Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Since January 2016, the NPD has received more than 5,000 psychiatric calls for service. The idea is that the CIT detail handles as many of those calls as possible to keep street officers free for other duties.
From February 2015 to March 2017, the CIT detail answered 1,562 calls for service, and only 17 of those calls ended with a person going to jail. The majority of those who were incarcerated were already facing charges before the CIT detail got involved, Munoz said.
“This is not a cure-all,” Munoz said. “There’s only so much that can be done to de-escalate a situation.”
When a CIT officer responds to a crisis situation, they typically take the person to the city’s assessment center, which is treated like a safe space where people can get their basic needs met. While they’re there, the city’s Community Services Board does a screening that determines the next step toward getting the person help.
Those steps could include finding shelter for the homeless, getting a person into therapy or finding a doctor.
Still, even with CIT efforts, about 14 percent of the Norfolk City Jail’s 1,100 inmates are mentally ill, Baron said.
The NSO is working to provide additional resources to their mentally ill inmates, including the hiring of two Community Services Board professionals who work in the jail and screen all inmates within 72 hours of their incarceration, Baron said.
The NSO also sets up discharge plans for inmates that guide them toward finding shelter and getting their medication after they are discharged.
“Across the board, jails have become repositories for the mentally ill,” Baron said. “But it’s getting better.”
Mayfield can be reached at adrienne.m@wydaily.com.
