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Police and Mental Health
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I'm sorry. Has something happened lately? >.<
Yeah... and so much police for one, unarmed person threatening suicide?
I do understand that police want to look out for their own safety and that of other people, but a bit of common sense would've went a long way there. Not to mention why they're asking him to hand himself over as if he's a criminal, when (if I'm not wrong) 5150 is an emergency involuntary commitment law, not a criminal arrest...
Yeah... and so much police for one, unarmed person threatening suicide?
I do understand that police want to look out for their own safety and that of other people, but a bit of common sense would've went a long way there. Not to mention why they're asking him to hand himself over as if he's a criminal, when (if I'm not wrong) 5150 is an emergency involuntary commitment law, not a criminal arrest...
How interesting!
I always thought that I live in a "police state". But suicide here - is only for doctors. ambulance arrives and takes to the hospital, always without the police. I am very surprised that anyone in the world calls the police in this case)
but hospitals are terrible, there is no cure, but only humiliation. exceptions are very rare.
I always thought that I live in a "police state". But suicide here - is only for doctors. ambulance arrives and takes to the hospital, always without the police. I am very surprised that anyone in the world calls the police in this case)
but hospitals are terrible, there is no cure, but only humiliation. exceptions are very rare.
What country do you live in?
As far as I know the police are actively involved in mental health crisises in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Mainland Europe (basically all 'Western' countries) because ambulance staff are not trained or even authorised to deal with resistant or disorderly patients who are being held against their will, although that didn't stop one particular paramedic pinning me down on a bed using force. Bear in mind, whether the police turns up depends on local policies and laws.. I know that the police do not always appear to overdoses unless the ambulance staff request their assistance and they're usually notified just in case, this is the case in the UK anyway, I think it's the law in some US states because of some incident in I think.. California.. years ago where a drug addict called an ambulance and killed the staff to get access to the drugs..
I don't consider it "police state" or anything, the emergency services co-operate with eachother in all sorts of incidents, not just mental health, I just think the police (generally) need better education and perhaps different powers in this area.
As far as I know the police are actively involved in mental health crisises in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Mainland Europe (basically all 'Western' countries) because ambulance staff are not trained or even authorised to deal with resistant or disorderly patients who are being held against their will, although that didn't stop one particular paramedic pinning me down on a bed using force. Bear in mind, whether the police turns up depends on local policies and laws.. I know that the police do not always appear to overdoses unless the ambulance staff request their assistance and they're usually notified just in case, this is the case in the UK anyway, I think it's the law in some US states because of some incident in I think.. California.. years ago where a drug addict called an ambulance and killed the staff to get access to the drugs..
I don't consider it "police state" or anything, the emergency services co-operate with eachother in all sorts of incidents, not just mental health, I just think the police (generally) need better education and perhaps different powers in this area.
My 1 and only time of being admitted:
I was walking home from my girlfriends house, crying because i had to breakup with cause i was moving across the country,
it was only like 11pm and a cop car pulled up and asked if i was ok and i replied, but they kept to my side on the road and kept asking and asking over and over
i finally broke down and took the offer of a ride home, when i got home i went straight to my room and the officers talked to my parents and then they came downstairs,
asked me to take my clothes off and sure enough, i had scars all over my chest from my recent cutting episode,
they took me to the hospital, took my belongings, put me in a 1 piece overall thing and put me in a empty room till my parents showed up
i was only admitted for about 6 hours then my parents took me home, and they acted like nothing happened the next day..
im sorta happy the officers were nice about it, instead of being all "harmful"...
I was walking home from my girlfriends house, crying because i had to breakup with cause i was moving across the country,
it was only like 11pm and a cop car pulled up and asked if i was ok and i replied, but they kept to my side on the road and kept asking and asking over and over
i finally broke down and took the offer of a ride home, when i got home i went straight to my room and the officers talked to my parents and then they came downstairs,
asked me to take my clothes off and sure enough, i had scars all over my chest from my recent cutting episode,
they took me to the hospital, took my belongings, put me in a 1 piece overall thing and put me in a empty room till my parents showed up
i was only admitted for about 6 hours then my parents took me home, and they acted like nothing happened the next day..
im sorta happy the officers were nice about it, instead of being all "harmful"...
I've had the police come round after a friend phoned them because she was concerned about me, and after I refused to go with them to the hospital, told me they were going to section me on a 136, and when I said they couldn't because I was in my own home, threatened to drag me outside, arrest me for breach of the peace and then section me anyway.
Back at the end of January I got arrested under the mental health act. I had called the crisis line and got the cops called on me, I knew they were coming so I went out for a coffee and made them hunt me down. They finally found me outside of the mall after tracing my cell phone. They were courteous and polite but they were thorough and they were ready to let me go home but they searched my bag and found a whole bunch of tablets in there and decided that was grounds to take me up to the hospital. Overall I would say I had a super positive experience with the officers, they were very kind to me. If your going to get yourself arrested I would definitely recommend you get arrested by my local RCMP. 
Normally at my local hospital, if they believe you are a suicide risk they have security guards there trained specifically for people in crisis, so I have only dealt with the police once and that was when I was 5150'd. The guards have always been very nice; bringing me heated blankets when I need them as long as my parents or a nurse was there to watch in the meantime (the paper clothes that the hospital makes you wear are not exactly warm).
My single experience with the police was when I was fifteen. I called a crisis line, but hadn't actually harmed myself in any way, and the woman on the line managed to talk me into giving the phone to my dad (convinced me that I was wrong and my parents wouldn't be mad, but I was right :P). Of course, they had to take me to the hospital. They weren't going to do anything but make me see my pdoc asap but I refused to sign a safety contract because I knew I could not and would not keep it. The second I said I couldn't sign that, they 5150'd me. I had to wait about 12 hours with no food, no drink, wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom without supervision but wasn't provided with a female guard. My mom was pissed and not very sympathetic, so she wasn't helpful. The guard was very nice, however. He did what he could to help. I really believe that, despite the fact that the situation I was in was pretty shitty.
The police showed up around 5 am, and I finally got to leave. They put me in a van; I wasn't cuffed or anything, though I really should've been. I'd been cooperative up until that point, so it's really not their fault. Anyhow, I went batshit in the van, kept trying to break things and break out of the van because I did not want to go to hospital. The officer was very nice and calm about the whole thing; she probably knew I couldn't exactly bust out of a damn armored van. Once we got to the hospital (an hour's drive), I immediately stopped being violent-- I had no desire to hurt anyone but myself. The policewoman was very kind as she escorted me to the check in at the acute crisis wing.
Honestly, what was really traumatic was the hospital stay itself; I had an excellent experience with the police officer who transported me. Of course, as my father is a cop with tenure who's trained half the officers, I feel like I'm unlikely to have a bad experience in my town, beyond cops being dickish-- I've dealt with a lot of asshole cops.
My single experience with the police was when I was fifteen. I called a crisis line, but hadn't actually harmed myself in any way, and the woman on the line managed to talk me into giving the phone to my dad (convinced me that I was wrong and my parents wouldn't be mad, but I was right :P). Of course, they had to take me to the hospital. They weren't going to do anything but make me see my pdoc asap but I refused to sign a safety contract because I knew I could not and would not keep it. The second I said I couldn't sign that, they 5150'd me. I had to wait about 12 hours with no food, no drink, wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom without supervision but wasn't provided with a female guard. My mom was pissed and not very sympathetic, so she wasn't helpful. The guard was very nice, however. He did what he could to help. I really believe that, despite the fact that the situation I was in was pretty shitty.
The police showed up around 5 am, and I finally got to leave. They put me in a van; I wasn't cuffed or anything, though I really should've been. I'd been cooperative up until that point, so it's really not their fault. Anyhow, I went batshit in the van, kept trying to break things and break out of the van because I did not want to go to hospital. The officer was very nice and calm about the whole thing; she probably knew I couldn't exactly bust out of a damn armored van. Once we got to the hospital (an hour's drive), I immediately stopped being violent-- I had no desire to hurt anyone but myself. The policewoman was very kind as she escorted me to the check in at the acute crisis wing.
Honestly, what was really traumatic was the hospital stay itself; I had an excellent experience with the police officer who transported me. Of course, as my father is a cop with tenure who's trained half the officers, I feel like I'm unlikely to have a bad experience in my town, beyond cops being dickish-- I've dealt with a lot of asshole cops.
My ex boyfriend who is mentally ill had a psychotic episode, he did not know who I was and he had a (self edit...method) and threatened that if anyone comes into his room he was going to hurt them, I was very frightened for my own safety. He was seeing people jumping out of the walls and talking to dead people, I rang 999 and told them the situation, 15 minutes later the armed response unit showed up, about 10 officers and 2 or 3 paramedics, I was very annoyed that they weren't up to date on mental health, they didn't seem to know what i was describing and they thought i was a nurse. They went into the apartment and tazered him(hard to remember now if they did but i think they did), handcuffed him and took him to hospital, he had been in in withdrawal from oxycontin, he was fine after taking some about an hour later and because he is barred from our local psychiatric unit they let him home once they said he was no longer a danger to himself/public. I would never want to go through with that again, scary as hell. Thank god he is my EX. The armed response admitted they knew very little about mental health, they were very nice to me and did their job properly so fair deuce to them.
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I've got a couple new police and mental health stories for this thread... Just what has been happening to me as of late.
1) So last Saturday night I was feeling really down and anxious and I called the crisis line and I ended up saying a bunch of horrible things about what I was planning on doing to myself and then I hung up the phone on them. I then went to a friend's place and talked to him about how I was feeling. I mentioned what had happened with the crisis line a little later on that evening when we went out to do some shopping and my friend suggested that I call the crisis line back and talk to them to avoid the cops coming. I called them back and they told me how lovely it was to hear from me but it was too late as they had already called the RCMP. So I called the non-emergency number for my local RCMP detachment and had the responding officers re-tasked from my house to where my friend and I were and they came and talked to me. The officer was rude and called me a sir. And he wasn't very thorough in his investigation. He should have taken me to the hospital but instead let me walk away. It wasn't the best experience I have had with the police by far.
2) Fast forward to this past Wednesday... I posted a suicidal message on my Facebook... I then got a call from a friend to meet her up at the hospital as one of our mutual friends was sick in ER. (A&E for you UK folks) I didnt even get to my door when my newsfeed lit up and I got a Facebook message from someone I didnt even know saying that she had called the ambulance and the police. I figured I didnt want to be around when the you know what hits the fan so I started walking up to the hospital to meet my friends. I went up and on the way I watched the police and ambulance drive past me. Anyway, I digress, I walked up to the hospital and visited my friend and we were waiting in the waiting room for our friend to come back from tests when the RCMP walk in and point me out and say, "Yup, we found who we are looking for." and ask me to come with them. So they talked to me for a bit and decided that I needed to actually talk to someone... The police stayed with me a couple more hours while I went through the process of being admitted... The officer was very nice and has dealt with me before though he did give me a mini-lecture about why I need to avoid drugs and alcohol, which while I understand he meant well wasn't really appreciated... I may be an addict but I dont do drugs thinking they do good things for me; I know they are bad.
1) So last Saturday night I was feeling really down and anxious and I called the crisis line and I ended up saying a bunch of horrible things about what I was planning on doing to myself and then I hung up the phone on them. I then went to a friend's place and talked to him about how I was feeling. I mentioned what had happened with the crisis line a little later on that evening when we went out to do some shopping and my friend suggested that I call the crisis line back and talk to them to avoid the cops coming. I called them back and they told me how lovely it was to hear from me but it was too late as they had already called the RCMP. So I called the non-emergency number for my local RCMP detachment and had the responding officers re-tasked from my house to where my friend and I were and they came and talked to me. The officer was rude and called me a sir. And he wasn't very thorough in his investigation. He should have taken me to the hospital but instead let me walk away. It wasn't the best experience I have had with the police by far.
2) Fast forward to this past Wednesday... I posted a suicidal message on my Facebook... I then got a call from a friend to meet her up at the hospital as one of our mutual friends was sick in ER. (A&E for you UK folks) I didnt even get to my door when my newsfeed lit up and I got a Facebook message from someone I didnt even know saying that she had called the ambulance and the police. I figured I didnt want to be around when the you know what hits the fan so I started walking up to the hospital to meet my friends. I went up and on the way I watched the police and ambulance drive past me. Anyway, I digress, I walked up to the hospital and visited my friend and we were waiting in the waiting room for our friend to come back from tests when the RCMP walk in and point me out and say, "Yup, we found who we are looking for." and ask me to come with them. So they talked to me for a bit and decided that I needed to actually talk to someone... The police stayed with me a couple more hours while I went through the process of being admitted... The officer was very nice and has dealt with me before though he did give me a mini-lecture about why I need to avoid drugs and alcohol, which while I understand he meant well wasn't really appreciated... I may be an addict but I dont do drugs thinking they do good things for me; I know they are bad.
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