Mental Health Crises and the Police

Last week, Patrick Warren, Sr., an unarmed black man, was shot to death by a police officer in Killeen, Texas, who was supposed to be responding to a mental health call at Warren’s house. Hours before, an identical call to the Killeen Police Department was made concerning the same individual, resulting in Warren’s consent to a hospital visit. This information would have been at the hands of the officer who shot Patrick Warren, Sr., Officer Reynaldo Contreras, on the day he shot and killed him.

As a woman of a mixed-race family, most of whom can pass as white and did so due to the social advantages that come with being white, I am appalled by the response of Officer Contreras. To be sure, I have been in the position of the family members who called 9–1–1 as a result of a psychological break, often drug-infused, of an immediate family member. I know what happens in these situations, and I know what should happen in response.

My family was lucky. Responding officers took care to subdue my brother and calmly speak with him — despite the property damage he caused and his threats of physical violence — ultimately culminating in his acquiescence to consent to help the state could provide, often a 72-hour mental health hold at a local hospital. His cooperation was not immediate. These officers took their time. They were trained, and my brother looked white. I know why we were lucky.

Often, police departments do not have personnel adequate to respond to the needs of the communities they serve. For example, in 2018, Seattle had one mental health professional on staff. ONE. If Seattle only had one, how many would a place like Killeen, Texas, have? This is what Defund the Police addresses.

Guns and force are not appropriate responses to mental health crises. We, as a community, spend money on updated artillery, vehicles, and hiring more soldiers ready for street battle and less on areas of the community where it is proven investment yields less crime and violence. It is silly, results in the loss of precious life, and it makes you wonder who benefits from such a structure. But I digress.

It is imperative that we redirect swollen budgets (like those of many police departments) to supplement the cuts to after-school programs, educational initiatives, music and art programs, and community mental health resources. It is imperative that officers who are dispatched to mental health crises are professionally trained and do not see the subject as a threat, but as a victim who needs their help. It is imperative that each citizen takes personal responsibility for themselves — that is, to acknowledge and address their subconsciously held biases, which we all hold — to create a better future, so that when a person of color comes into the perceiver’s purview, they are not automatically seen as a threat. It is imperative that we do the work it will take to evolve, lest we stagnate and self-destruct.