VIEWPOINT
SHERIFFS LEAD THE WAY
Law enforcements advocacy is crucial to helping people with mental and behavioral
disorders be productive members of society
By Vincent Atchity
E
verywhere we look in America today,
we are seeing negative statements
made about mental health and
criminal justice. The Land of the Free is,
in certain circles, called The Incarceration
Nation. Jails and prisons are our largest
mental health facilities. The United States
has only 5 percent of the worlds population,
but 25 percent of the worlds jail and prison
populations. It is not a pretty picture.
But thats not the final word. Most of our
officers and deputiesgood copswork
every day to create a much better picture.
Folks working in law enforcement are
models of integrity in action in communi-
ties all over the country. Law enforcement
leaders and experts have increasingly refined
measures of performance to identify and
take advantage of opportunities for ongoing
adjustments in training and operations.
The objective they share is to yield better
24 SHERIFF & DEPUTY | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
outcomessafer neighborhoods and reduc-
tions in police and civilian violence. Indeed,
they aim to be guardians of the republicto
protect and to serve. Sue Rahr, the former
sheriff of King County (Washington) who
is now the director of the Washington State
Criminal Justice Training Commission,
used to tell her deputies, Your core mission
is not to have a nightstick and a gun and
pepper spray. Your core mission is to support
the constitution and protect people, while
defending their civil rights. attorneys, judges, corrections officers, com-
People serving in law enforcement also
knowperhaps better than anyonethat
the current picture of mental health and
criminal justice in America cant be fixed by
law enforcement alone. In promoting his
new memoir, Called to Rise, former Dallas
Police Chief David Brown said, We crimi-
nalize poverty, we criminalize mental illness,
we criminalize drug addiction, and those
are treatable things that we can resolve with
policy. Handcuffs are not the solution.
Though the system hasnt kept up with
addressing the growing social responsibilities
put on law enforcement, sheriff s offices and
police departments are not alone in recog-
nizing that there is a problem. The National
Sheriffs Association has identified mental
health as a key legislative priority. And
deputies and police are increasingly finding
support from public defenders, district
missioners, developers, educators, advocates,
behavioral health providers, and other allies
who see room for improvement.
Some 375 counties have signed up to take
part in the Stepping Up initiative, and hun-
dreds of national leaders and experts have
contributed to Equitas Course Corrections
documents. Whats more, there are thou-
sands of initiatives at the municipal, county,
 VIEWPOINT
and state levels; the list of communities
sharing common sense about the common
good is long and growing.
They have been informed or supported
by the Treatment Advocacy Center, The
Sentencing Project, the Vera Institute of
Justice, JustLeadershipUSA, the Center
for Court Innovation, the Council of State
Governments, the SAMHSA Gains Center,
the MacArthur Foundation, and others. All
are inspired by the certainty that we can get
a lot closer to health, justice, and prosperity
if we properly coordinate our priorities,
efforts, and resources.
JustLeadershipUSA has put a challenging
target out there, calling for a 50 percent
reduction in U.S. jail and prison populations
by 2030. That goal might be impossible
or even undesirable, but communities are
increasingly united in working together
intelligently on the challenge we set for our-
selves as a nation: liberty and justice for all.
What would it look like to improve
mental health outcomes and dramatically
shrink jail and prison populations? What
does it look like to build all of those for-
merly detained back into the economy
and community in a way that is a win
for everyone?
This is an important leadership oppor-
tunity for the nations sheriffs, who bring
unique authority and experience to bear on
conversations about access to quality mental
health care. As first responders to mental
health crises and supporters of public safety,
sheriffs know as much as most doctors about
the challenges of managing mental and
behavioral health in acute onset settings and
long-term facilitiesor more.
Diversion is an obvious place to start.
There are a lot of bodies getting caught up
in squad cars, courtrooms, and jails. People
who are headed into (or deeper into/back
into) the justice system on account of poorly
managed mental and behavioral health ought
to be diverted back into the community
safely, appropriately, and cost-effectively
whenever possible.
The question thats currently asked
throughout the country is Divert to what?
Each community takes its own approach.
But sheriffs offices are finding allies with
promising results. Some of the best law
enforcement-led efforts have established
26 SHERIFF & DEPUTY | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
alternatives to arrest and incarceration.
From Los Angeles to Seattle to Baltimore
and from Fairfax County, Virginia, to Bexar
County, Texas, these efforts are proliferat-
ing and vying to set national standards for
excellence.
Even better than these alternatives to
arrest and incarceration are broader commu-
nity health management partnerships that
look upstream to stem the flow closer to the
source. For years, America has been cursed
with health and justice systems that are
entangled in ways that are costly and unpro-
ductive. As a result, justice, safety, and health
arent as well-served as we need them to be.
Most people would
rather work at good jobs
and be useful members
of their families and
communities than be
arrested and jailed.
Individual and community prosperity
and well-being suffer from the economic
and human costs of poor coordination of
resources, intelligence, practice, and policy.
As Congress debates how to keep health
care costs down, weve turned the clock
back to the 19th century on mental health
management.
Every day, 5,000 people with serious
mental illnesses (SMIs) are booked into a
jaila total of 1.8 million men and women
per year. Thousands more are booked into
a jail every day having broken a law due
to some mild mental distress or behav-
ioral failing associated with the struggle
to surviverather than out of a calculated
determination to be a criminal.
Sheriff s offices have a vital role to play
in pointing out that to stem the tide of
mentally ill people flowing into the justice
system, the mental and behavioral health
of the population must be better managed
upstream. Health vulnerabilities must
be identified early. Access to quality care
must be better guaranteed. Education and
employment should support the develop-
ment of human potential. And substance use
requires a public health response.
Of course, there are significant and
persistent barriers obstructing these goals.
But the unified voices of sheriffs and dep-
uties are extremely influential in pointing
out the barriers, demanding attention from
the community partners who can help get
around them, and ultimately bringing about
a shift in resources. Sheriffs are extremely
effective in convening experts across sectors,
influencing policymakers, and helping
communities make appropriate systems
accountable for the costs and outcomes of
population health management.
Its difficult to overestimate the value of
sheriff leadership in the Colorado legisla-
tures recent passage of bills representing
$44 million of funding intended to disen-
tangle mental health from criminal justice.
Chris Johnson, executive director of the
County Sheriffs of Colorado, Sheriff Joe
Pelle of Boulder County, Sheriff Fred
McKee of Delta County, and Sheriff James
Van Beek of Eagle County were notable
advocates for health, safety, and justice
during the legislative session.
Colorado State Sen. John Cooke (R),
former sheriff of Weld County, sponsored
legislation supporting earlier interventions
for crisis response, including funding for law
enforcement-assisted diversion programs.
We want people to know that a crisis is not
a crime, and that they can get the help they
need in times of emergency, he told the
Denver Post.
Most people would rather work at good
jobs and be useful members of their families
and communities than be arrested and jailed
or imprisoned. But thats easier said than
done when someone has poor mental or
behavioral health. If such issues are iden-
tified early on and addressed effectively by
health care providers, educators, employers,
and other authorities, the American econ-
omy can soar as never before.
And sheriffs and deputies can be the most
powerful and effective advocates in their
communities in creating that picture of the
Land of the Freea place as bright and
successful as it should be.
Vincent Atchity is executive director of Equitas
(www.equitasusa.org), which works to disentangle
the criminal justice system from managing mental
and behavioral health.