Mental Health: A juxtaposition of Rochester police tactics

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Submitted by Susan Galloway / T. Forsyth on Sat, 2015-11-07 11:02

A video of an incident on West Main Street on October 27, 2015 showed five Rochester police officers violently subduing a mentally ill, homeless, Black man. The incident lasted two minutes, according to the Rochester Police Department in a Democrat & Chronicle article.

 What people may not know, however, was that about a week before on October 21, 2015, a similar incident happened on Clarissa Street involving a young, white man with mental health issues. The individual exhibited aggressive and belligerent behavior toward other people on Clarissa Street. During this incident, he removed his own clothing and proceeded to move up and down the street. The incident lasted a little over an hour.

 Due to negative societal stigma attached to mental illness, Rochester Indymedia has made every effort to hide the face of the individual. We wanted to show the difference in how the police responded to both situations, and also question why there was a marked difference in police tactics. What happened on W. Main St. was not acceptable--regardless of police procedure.

Watch the video below of the incidents on October 27, 2015 and October 21, 2015:

Mental Health: A juxtaposition of Rochester police tactics

Some questions that were raised for us as we watched both incidents were:

Was the difference in police response racially motivated? 
Was the difference in police response class motivated? 
Was the difference in the police response due to training differences? 
Was the difference because of the location?
Was the RPD's mental health response team called to the scene on W. Main Street and if not, why not?
Would the incident on W. Main Street have happened if all five of those officers had the same training as the officers on Clarissa Street?
Will the officers who brutalized the man on W. Main Street be held to any account by the Rochester Police Department or the community at large?

These are questions that need to be answered by the City and the Rochester Police Department. The incidents also raise the need for a community discussion about the treatment of mentally ill people in our community.  

I (Susan) personally witnessed the incident on Clarissa Street and was impressed with the how the police handled the situation. First of all, the RPD officers took the time to assess the situation by observing the man. When they did start interacting with the individual, they spoke to the man calmly, but did not immediately approach him. The officers attempted to persuade the man to get into the car of someone who knew him that had volunteered to take the individual home. It appeared that the police were trying to avoid arresting him. When the individual refused to get into the person's car, the police calmly got him into their cruiser and called an ambulance. No harsh language or raised voices were used by the police. The man was moved into the ambulance after he was placed on a gurney in soft restraints, without force, and moved from the police cruiser. In total the police were dealing with the individual at the scene for a little more than an hour. The police acted in a way that did not escalate the situation. In the end, the man's and the community's safety were protected where humane and nonviolent tactics won the day.

  Although I (Susan) did not witness the incident on W. Main Street, I have read the articles, watched the news reports, and viewed the video. The Democrat & Chronicle reported that according to the RPD statement, officers responded to the Open Door Mission, at 210 W. Main Street, for a man refusing to leave the property. The caller from the shelter stated that the man said, "Police will have to kill him to make him leave."

This could mean that the RPD were aware that they were going to be dealing with an individual with mental health issues. According to a Time Warner Cable News piece, Rochester Police Locust Club President Mike Mazzeo said, “The call that the officers got was that, 'if police come, they’re going to have to kill me,' so additional officers went because they anticipated officers having problems, and even with that amount of numbers there, that suspect was able to take a pair of handcuffs off an officer and use it as a weapon and resist in that way." Mazzeo continued, “They got to a point where another officer used a taser that didn’t work. They went with the continuum of the use of force that follows based on their training. They had no choice in that matter."

After witnessing what happened on Clarissa Street, it seems like there are choices that can be made, contrary to what the police union president said to the media.

Supposedly, there is a team of RPD officers that is specially trained to deal with mentally ill and emotionally disturbed individuals. Were they called? If not, why? The incident on W. Main Street does not appear to be that much different from the Clarissa Street incident--except for the response.

How mentally ill people are approached and interacted with can be the difference between de-escalating or escalating a situation. Laurie Jean Premo, a mental health professional stated, "When dealing with a person having a psychiatric episode, I speak in a calm voice. I do not approach the person or touch them unless they are in imminent danger to themselves or others."

On Clarissa Street, the police used the approach described by Ms. Premo and de-escalated the situation. On W. Main Street, it appeared that the officers almost immediately went to their use of force matrix and escalated the situation by approaching and touching the man. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, "The entire incident lasted about two minutes police said." The results are self-explanatory.

There was a meeting at Rochester City Hall between city officials, the RPD and community leaders on November 2, 2015 where the incident on W. Main Street was discussed. Those in attendance included Mayor Lovely Warren, RPD Chief Michael Ciminelli, Deputy Chief Scott Peters, Captain Kevin Costello and Officer Daniel Carlson. The following account is based on notes taken at the meeting by members of the Rochester Coalition for Police Reform.  

While Officer Carlson was relaying the details of the incident between the five RPD officers and the mentally ill man, he repeatedly referred to the man as "the bad guy". He did change his terminology after the Chief interjected with the term "the individual". Using the term "bad guy" to describe a man with mental illness is troubling and raises questions about how those struggling with mental health issues are viewed by the RPD. Is the police perception that mental illness is equated with "badness" and is this use of language indicative of a police culture problem that uses terminology like "bad guy" to dehumanize people struggling with mental health issues?  

Community members asked some questions of city officials regarding the incident. For instance, why didn't the RPD stop traffic instead of trying to physically remove the man from the intersection? The chief responded that a fight had started right away, which meant that the officers moved on the individual pretty quickly after arriving on scene. This is clearly different from how officers handled the incident on Clarissa Street: officers observed the individual that was naked in the street, they approached him calmly, they did not make physical contact with him, and they spoke calmly and compassionately. Again, why the difference in tactics?  

The officials at the meeting acknowledged that the incident on W. Main Street was a mental health situation. The chief stated that the RPD has an Emotionally Disturbed Person Response Team (EDPRT), but none of the responding officers were trained. Why, when it was apparent from the 9-1-1 call that the situation involved a person with mental health issues, was the EDPRT not dispatched? Why aren't all officers trained in EDPRT tactics? Clearly, it is time to train all RPD officers in how to respond to individuals showing signs of emotional distress or mental health symptoms.

  The juxtaposition of these two incidents is paramount to understanding how deficient the police response is most of the time. Out of nearly 730 officers, the chief said, at another meeting with police that happened on November 6, 2015, about 75 officers are trained in EDPRT tactics. An individual having a mental health episode is not a "bad" person or a "criminal"; they are in-need of direct support and must be treated as such. EDPRT training needs to given to ALL officers in order to effectively and safely intercede in situations like the one on W. Main Street. The five officers who mercilessly beat the man on W. Main Street need to be held accountable--regardless of police procedure. When interceding with an individual who is experiencing a mental health episode, it takes patience, calm, and proper training to de-escalate the situation resulting in a dignified and humane conclusion. The outcomes speak for themselves.