Testimony on Draft LCO #3471” 

Sharing my Thoughts on Police Accountability Draft Bill

I.      Setting the Context

It is true that friends and colleagues and news report can provide multiple chilling reports of the fraught, stigmatized dehumanized status accorded to persons who are suffering  from treatable legitimate medical disorders that manifest behavior including persons suffering from serious mental disorders Substance and alcohol dependence or persons constituting that makes it easier to be subject to “othering”. This in turn prompts in some horrible instances to reprehensible punitive behavior and death at the hands of some law enforcement officers. 

However. I want to add another perspective about collaborative interactions  with Law Enforcement officers that were beneficial in the south end of Boston in Boston City Hospital during the late sixties  and 70s when there was chaos from a number of factors the officers of District 4 BPD  and us who worked in the ER and the clinics especially  those run by volunteers at the Pine street Inn were very helpful to our people we were trying to help. 

Similarly in Middletown, since about 1980, people who sought help from the Soup Kitchen and the CHC [FQHC] and were lodging themselves under nearby bridge on the North end and people who came to score drugs and overdosed in the drug dens or certain street corners or trying to or not jump from the high Bridge over the CT River were rescued by local police and taken to the ER in Mx. Hospital.

I have worked on both sites CHC and the Hospital. The local police or State police coordinated  with  us before they brought these persons with both SMI and AUD / SUD or if they had some questions about the persons situation. meds etc. when they came upon them near the approaches of the bridge or at the railings of the bridge or asleep or unconscious in a doorway or alley or in a snow bank or in the middle of the Road acting exuberantly before they were brought to the ER. Both in Boston and Middletown  I want to say Police Depts have contributed to Peace and wellbeing overall during all hours of the day and night in all seasons of the year every year. 

It would be considered a blessing visited on the families of these individuals who are given a second or even the fourth or fifth chance by being found  overdosed or severely drunk or severely injured, raped and tied up and left to die or incapacitated by falling asleep on a snow bank by robust and resourceful men and women in blue rescue them and get them to an ER. It is so tragic occasionally we miss some individuals in these dire circumstances I have long thought of the such a tragic death of 46-year-old Ms. Terry Mc Govern one snowy freezing night just before Christmas 1994. I know of many instances where the dreaded night  time phone call from the police or the ER which could bring in dreadful news instead conveyed more emotionally stabilizing news because of the resourcefulness and expertise of the robust men and women and blue. I know how relieved my staff and I are to know that patients of our were found in darkened rooms in their locked homes or apartments sometimes with the gas turned on when we request the police to do a wellness check or find them wandering on the highway.

The bigger problem I encountered was when the people were arrested and taken to the police station than the usual distressing fraught vignettes. The Local NAMI and my staff and I wanted to be sure they did not say a word and talk themselves into deeper holes than they might have been in. We have worked with persons who were in town without papers but needed treatment urgently and were nabbed by ICE. Working with Lawyers our treatment staff were able to keep the person in our area with a judicial ruling and protect them from ICE and keep them with their relatives including grandchildren some of whom were legally in town. We were grateful the Local police did not interfere with our patients and our programs of care in school-based clinics and the Health Centers.

In other civil or criminal cases, they can be treated really bad in the court system without good legal representation.  We have had to prepare our patients to deal with the ordeal of being on the stand in court by sticking to a few facts and not volunteering  anything or ramble about their acts as young men years ago or share their  hallucinations or delusions. 

Once they get locked up in a jail and can't get bail 100% almost they get no meds and little or no help for unknown length of time leading to terrible conditions and exacerbations leading to solitary confinement  and then some have ended up in forensic systems. 

The role of the police in the areas of the towns I worked  in were important to assure our Medical establishments tried to assure community benefit. Police officers were eager to be included in committees dealing with Domestic violence, [ trained female and Male officers helped the victims and perpetrators who were being treated to manage their legally hazardous interactions], Early childhood trauma and its consequences DWI, and school based issues, transporting persons with SMI or SUD/ AUD involuntarily to ERs times without number every day in every jurisdiction in the USA quite efficiently  and successfully. The Staff of Aware Recovery Care-CT. In addition, our colleagues work with persons with Substance and Alcohol Dependence disorders in four States FL, Maine and New Hampshire and collaborate with each other and community partners including Treatment Professional and Law Enforcement and First responders

I thank those who share the chilling deadly narratives of encounters between Police Officers and persons with Severe mental Illness. I want to affirm these tragic occurrences,  but it is important for me and certainly for my staff to broaden our perspectives about these interactions by opening the doors to other more uplifting and heartwarming narratives little more ajar.  There are some police officers who appear to act unlawfully and cause death and deep sorrow, evoke anger and inspire protest but overall, the Police Dept officers have been collaborative  with our schools, health care organizations  and community organizations. The protests clearly reflect “the needs of society to determine its ethics’ Maya Angelou.

I want to add this fact of life for 401 years that Black men have been and are still being disproportionately subjected to similar reprehensible  hate crimes by some racist civilians and the occasional law enforcement officers. I have written extensively on these hearts stopping recurring nightmarish horrors. How do we end this horror and wake up from the 400-year nightmare? 

Ms. Angelou reminded us sagaciously, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Maya Angelou

The dream I am thinking of is one that our dear martyred revered brother Martin spoke about“ of a Beloved Community. The core value of the quest for Dr. King’s Beloved Community was Agape. Agape is  the love of God operating in the human heart.” He said that “Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for their sakes” and “makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community.”

The Episcopal Church created  The Becoming Beloved Community Vision Document and accompanying resources help us to understand and take up the long-term commitments necessary to form loving, liberating and life-giving relationships with each other. They have created a dynamic illustration of the process of building a beloved community. This ongoing perpetual cyclical process of forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation, growth, and recovery, to achieve robust health and wellbeing requires the continuous long-term collaboration of our patients, their families, Medical and Mental Health Professionals, and integration of Theological beliefs, Religious rituals, and Spiritual practices. This Illustration symbolizes the trajectory of identification, admission, acceptance and acknowledgement that is subsumed in the process of building resilience that can be strengthened and enhanced by an empathic sharing of responsibilities between those who seek assistance and care-givers which enables them to start with telling the truth.

 

II.  This is of interest to persons in the helping professions

My Colleagues in the multi- disciplinary helping professional team in the communities or Health Care Entities.  Here are key provisions of the Bill that is of particular interest to me and urge you to please bear in mind and include in the Final Draft.

 

• Annual reporting on minority recruitment efforts at local police departments.
• All police officers must become certified.
• Periodic mental health screenings will be required at a Chief’s discretion where there is a cause; a screening must be conducted no less than every 5 years and when an officer changes departments.

• Uniformed officers must have name and badge number readily visible on outer most garment.
• Individuals providing police training at Police Departments or at the CT Police Academy must be certified in their field of expertise.
• Implicit bias training will be required.
• Uniform standards will be developed for crowd control.
• Municipalities will have the ability to appoint citizen review boards and extend subpoena power to those review boards.
• Body and dashboard cameras will be mandatory for officers interacting with public.
• Tighten the type of military-grade equipment local municipalities can buy in an effort to de-militarize departments.
• An objectively reasonable standard will be required for an officer to use force, meaning that an officer has exhausted all reasonable alternatives, that the force creates no significant risk of injury to a third party, and that such use of force to be necessary. Police officers must be trained and certified as being competent in the use of de-escalation strategies. In addition the Body Cameras must be reviewed to determine if these strategies were utilized and utilized competently before more physical violent measures were adopted.
• No tactic to restrain oxygen and blood flow to the head, including chokeholds and strangleholds, can be used unless it’s deemed necessary to protect oneself or save the lives of someone else.
• Use of Force investigations would be conducted by an independent Inspector General with prosecutorial authority.
• Implement Increased penalties for making a false police report based on race, gender, national origin, sexual identity. Persons of BIPOC and LGBTQ= communities are especially vulnerable
• Finally, please enact a strong Police Accountability Bill that must include the language on social workers in Section 18 of the draft Police Accountability Bill in the Final draft Bill that is voted and sent off to Governor Lamont.

III. Key Highlights from the 65 Page Bi Partisan Draft Police Accountability Bill

            I gather these are among the high lights of the Draft Police Accountability Bill.  These are of substantial interest to me and urge you to find a way of drafting the final version to include these important potentially transformative provisions. I have made notations in each of the Items that reflects my interests and concerns.

 

• The Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST), which currently provides certification and trainings for only some police officers in Connecticut, will be reconstituted.[THIS IS A MUST, PLEASE] Current membership will end on December 31, 2020, and there will be new criteria for appointments, including justice-impacted persons be members and different size towns be represented. Six appointments to the POST will be made by legislative leaders. If a member misses 50% or more of meetings in a calendar year, they will lose their seat. [Accountability must start at the top]
• POST will issue an annual report on minority recruitment efforts at local police departments. The data must be available on an ongoing basis not just annualized basis to the Police Transparency and Accountability Task Force.
• All officers must become POST certified; periodic mental health screenings will be required at a police chief’s discretion where there is cause; a screening must be conducted no less than every five years and when an officer changes departments; uniformed officers must have their name and badge number readily visible on their outer garment; individuals providing police training at police departments or at the academy must be certified in their field of expertise. This absolutely CRITICAL.
• POST will develop a model crowd control policy; will require implicit bias training; and disciplinary records of officers will be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. This must be retained in the final draft
• POST will have the ability to conduct hearings and make determinations to suspend, censor, or decertify an officer. POST can make these determinations when an officer has engaged in conduct that undermines public confidence in law enforcement or when an officer uses excess or unjustifiable force. If an officer is de-certified by POST, they cannot be employed as a security guard. The fact the Police Officer has been decertified must be posted on a Data base – Police Accountability Data Base PADB  fashioned along the lines of the National Practitioner data Base that keeps track of the Sanctions imposed against Physicians and Licensed Medical Care providers. [ NPDB] THIS IS A MUST add  provision in the Final draft
• Under the new bill, cities and towns will have the ability to appoint citizen review boards and extend subpoena power to those review boards through local legislative bodies.
• Local police departments will review the need to engage more social worker-based responses, either with an officer or by themselves.[ Section 18 of the Draft Bill must include a key role for Social Workers.]
• Body and dashboard cameras will be mandatory for officers interacting with public; this mandate will include funding for storage and allow the state Office of Policy and Management the ability to set conditions for grant funding. It is incumbent on this Bill to ensure a funding stream to achieve this critical goal
• Quotas for pedestrian stops are banned, with such quotas already banned on traffic stops.
• Consent searches of vehicles will be banned unless there is probable cause.

• An objectively reasonable standard will be required for a Police Officer to use deadly force, meaning that an officer has exhausted all reasonable alternatives, that the force creates no significant risk of injury to a third party, and that such use of force is necessary. All these practical criteria must be met based on Body Camera and other sources of information. Police officers must be trained and certified as being competent in the use of De-escalation strategies. In addition the Body Cameras must be reviewed to determine if these strategies were utilized and utilized competently before more physical violent measures were adopted.

• No tactic to restrain blood flow to the head, including chokeholds and strangleholds, can be used unless it’s deemed necessary to save the life of oneself or someone else. 
• Officers must intervene and report excessive use of deadly force; whistleblower protections will be provided to those who do. Just as Mandatory reporters among Health Care Professionals are appropriately sanctioned by the State. Police Officers who don’t report such malfeasance must sanctioned appropriately. These requirements must be spelled out/
• The Bill creates an independent Office of the Inspector General (IG), which will be housed under the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Division of Criminal Justice. Use of force investigations would be conducted by the IG with prosecutorial authority. The IG would be nominated by the Chief State’s Attorney with a public hearing required before the Judiciary Committee and confirmation by the legislature to a four-year term. The IG can refer police officers to POST for de-certification. These two recommendations must be in the Final Bill
• Please strengthen this provision: The Bill implements increased penalties for making a false police report based on race, gender, national origin, or sexual identity, and it creates cause of action for civil rights violations. [People are on the record using 911 calls to bring a world of pain to encumber people of color who may have done something perfectly legal to raise their ire.VM]
• The Police Transparency and Accountability Task Force’s work will continue, focused on how to increase minority police officer recruitment, whether police officers should carry professional liability insurance, and whether to ban no-knock warrants. This is Imperative. We cannot clearly make these decisions without collecting data on these parameters and its outcomes.
• The fact the Police Officer has been decertified must be posted on a Data base – Police Accountability Data Base PADB  fashioned along the lines of the National Practitioner data Base that keeps track of the Sanctions imposed against Physicians and Licensed Medical Care providers. [ NPDB] THIS IS A MUST add  provision in the Final draft
• An objectively reasonable standard will be required for a Police Officer to use deadly force, meaning that an officer has exhausted all reasonable alternatives, that the force creates no significant risk of injury to a third party, and that such use of force is necessary. All these practical criteria must be met based on Body Camera and other sources of information. Police officers must be trained and certified as being competent in the use of De-escalation strategies. In addition the Body Cameras must be reviewed to determine if these strategies were utilized and utilized competently before more physical violent measures were adopted.
• Finally, please enact a strong Police Accountability Bill that must include the language on social workers in Section 18 of the draft Police Accountability Bill in the Final draft Bill that is voted and sent off to Governor Lamont.
• Finally, please enact a strong Police Accountability Bill that must include the language on social workers in Section 18 of the draft Police Accountability Bill in the Final draft Bill that is voted and sent off to Governor Lamont.

 

I welcome your  responses. 

 

Velandy Manohar, MD 

Distinguished Life Fellow- Am. Psychiatric Assoc. APA
Medical Dir. Aware Recovery Care-CT. President, ARC In- Home Addiction Treatment, PC
Chair- Committee on Engagement and Outreach, Community Advisory Council of Office of Health Strategy- CT
Founding member, Past Steering Committee member- Psychotherapy Caucus APA
Founding member, Community Resilience Collaborative- Mx County-CT[Focus on Adverse Consequences of Childhood trauma
Founding member of CT. Multi-Cultural Health Partnership