Instead I want to concentrate on the Police reaction at the time and since. This case apparently provided a shake up of the 111 system and brought attention to the treatment many have received by police staff prior to this case. By the sound of the Police, they have changed their modus operandi towards people asking for help, be it domestic violence, public disorder, mental ilnesses and the likes. But has it?
On two occasions I personally was subject to police intervention, not because I was a criminal, but because of my behaviour. The first time, in June 2005 I was suffering a full blown mania that had been going on for 5 months and had me living on the streets in Palmerston North. I was "picked up" by the Police after 8 days, taken back to the station, and underwent a psychiatric review from which I was admitted to Palmerston North Hospitals Ward 21 (Psychiatric ward). I have to say thank you to the Police for that intervention and the work they did. But unknowingly, I was now under the Police radar. 6 months later, I again suffered a severe manic episode and for 23 days roamed the streets in my suburb without any memory of having done so, until three police cars arrived when I was walking on the street, handcuffed me, taken back to the station, had my shoes removed, my belt and my necklace, all normal Police proceedure when dealing with the mentally ill and suicidal clients. But what happened next horrified me, even in my manic addled state. I was treated like a criminal. I had fingerprints taken, a mugshot, and thrown in a cell until a psychiatrist arrived. Yep back in Ward 21.
To this day, my mugshot and fingerprints are on file. Why? I'm not a criminal. But in the last 6 years I have heard anecdotal evidence to suggest that this is more the norm than the exception. Especially those with a recorded mental illness, no matter the diagnosis. Now I am fully aware that the first concern for Police is public safety and that individuals that are on the books are there for a good reason. Once they have a file on record, any callouts can be backed up with knowledge of that persons record, their illness, and how they behave. Yeah Big Brother. I don't see this as fair. Mental Illnesses and those that suffer are not crimes so why treat them accordingly? And why record personal information if no crime has been committed?
Iraena Asher was treated poorly, not just because she had a mental illness, but also because she feared for her life. How many others since have had similar experiences? And another thing raised in her case, the often trundled out line that the person suffering mental distress was not taking their medication. I challenged police and mental health practitioners to check my medication and establish factually if I hadn't. I know for a fact even when manic I took my medication religiously, and many others are in the same boat. Authority figures often fail to prove otherwise and find it too easy to explain someones distress on poor medication regimes. Come on, get a life for christ sake.
Anyway, I don't ever want to have to go through police intervention again as I have a feeling I will once again be treated as a criminal and third class citizen. All I say to that is I have a manageable mental illness that can and may flare again. God willing it won't. Leave the jails for the criminals.
That is something I find incredibly distressing - that mentally unwell people are treated like criminals when they are picked up for assessment. Imagine someone with any other illness being handcuffed and put in the cells until a specialist came to check them out! Added to the fact that the individual is already in crisis, possibly paranoid and delusional - and do you really want to prove to them that the cops are out to get them after all!
ReplyDeleteWe have so far to go before people with mental illnesses are treated with dignity, respect and care by the police, let alone by the general public!
I find the prejudice is so deep that I see it amongst some of my so called friends.
Try pointing out that while mental health funding has dropped (sub acute wards at midcentral dhb were closed down between 2003 and 2006, oncology funding has increased annually, despite the greater lifetime disease and disability rating of mental illness. (i made the funding figures up but i bet the truth isn't far off)
According to the WHO, unipolar depression has the same effect on a person's life as tetraplegia and end stage cancer. reread that carefully and let it sink in. end stage cancer is a universally accepted state of hell. but depression? nearly everyone will argue against this. even my parents do, yet they have had to support me over the 30 years of my serious mental illness, in and out of hospital, on and off medications that make me as physically ill as no taking them makes me mentally ill.
(i haven't made any of this up!)
What we do have is a community of people who look out for each other and care so deeply. My normal brained friends will never understand the bond i have with other people who experience mental illness.