Portland police chief to bring back specialized Crisis Intervention ...

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese announced Wednesday that he is going to bring back a specialized Crisis Intervention Team of officers to respond to mental health crisis calls in the city, in response to a scathing federal justice review of Portland police use of force involving people with mental illness.

The Police Bureau will continue to train all its officers in crisis intervention, but will return to its 1995 model of having a specialized team of officers who work regular patrol but volunteer to be the ones called to incidents involving people in mental health crisis.

Reese said he made the decision to bring back the specialized team after meeting recently with members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and other mental health stakeholders.

"The group discussed how officers respond to these situations, which are complex and unfold quickly. Arriving officers most often do not know if the person is suffering from a medical problem, mental health issue, drug and alcohol issues or some combination of two or more,'' the Police Bureau said in a prepared statement. "With that in mind, the Chief is creating a Crisis Intervention Team - a volunteer specialized team.''

Outside consultants, community mental health advocates and even some current and retired Portland police have urged the bureau over the past several years to return to a specialized team of crisis intervention officers. The chief strongly resisted, until now.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice also urged the bureau to create a specialized group of officers who have the desire, training and skills to work with people suffering from mental illness.

The bureau will continue to train all its officers in crisis intervention training, but ask officers to apply for the new specialized Crisis Intervention Team. Officers will be selected after Nov. 15, the bureau's written release said.

Though federal officials have urged such a specialized team report to a police supervisor, the bureau has not made a decision on who will supervise the new team, Sgt. Pete Simpson said Wednesday. Nor has the chief decided who will select the officers for the team, said Simpson, a bureau spokesman.

In other steps, the Portland police chief distributed drafts of new use of force and Taser policies to his officers on Monday as city officials negotiate a settlement with federal justice officials on police reforms.

The draft policies, released to the public on Wednesday, specifically direct officers to recognize that people in mental health crisis may require a "specialized response" to ensure confrontations are resolved with as little reliance on force as possible.

They also would require officers who use deadly force or are involved death-in-custody incidents to provide "an on-scene interview" to an investigating detective, after conferring with a lawyer or union representative. Those interviews currently are not required, and often don't occur until at least two days after the incident.

The revised Taser policy is more restrictive, but not as stringent as federal officials, consultants and community activists have sought. It does not limit the number of Taser cycles an officer can fire, but strongly urges officers to "evaluate their options and give strong consideration to other force options if the Taser is not effective after two" cycles on the same person.

The chief asks for feedback on the new draft policies, with comments due by Nov. 2. After reading the new directive, there's a place for community members to provide comments.

--Maxine Bernstein

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/portland_police_chief_to_bring.html

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