BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth – The thorny issue of how to deal with mentally ill people suspected of having violent tendencies was a hot topic at last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation here.

It followed a report on crime in St Elizabeth during October, from head of the police division Superintendent Kenneth Chin. The police chief told the meeting of three murders as well as the death of four men who were allegedly involved in violent confrontations with the police during last month.

Media reports had suggested that two of the three murders in October were committed by mentally challenged men.

Chin said one of the police fatal shootings involved a man who was said to be of “unsound mind” in Nain, Myersville Division.

Rising to speak after Chin had delivered his initial report, an impassioned Layton Smith, councillor for the Myersville Division, argued that some tragedies involving the mentally challenged could have been avoided if the police and the health department were more proactive and responsive.

He pointed to occasions where people in his division made reports to the police of threatening or dangerous behaviour only to be referred to the Ministry of Health, and vice versa. People often found themselves in a back and forth between the police and the health department, he said.

“Whenever [there are] concerns with mentally challenged persons and you call the police they direct you to Ministry of Health, you call Ministry of Health and they direct you back to the police and it’s just like that…,” complained Smith.

The councillor spoke of one case in which a woman reported to the police that her mentally ill relative was refusing to take his medication and was becoming dangerous. She was referred by the police to the health department. But when she went to the health department she was sent back to the police. According to Smith, her last words to the authorities was that when they finally acted it was likely to be too late.

“So said, so done,” said Smith. He told the meeting that “three or four” days later the mentally challenged man had committed murder.

However, Chin told the meeting that contrary to popular opinion, the police had no power under the Mental Health Act to simply go and arrest or accost people simply on the ‘say so’ of citizens. While the police are empowered to assist and provide security for medical personnel in the execution of their duties, the person said to be mentally ill could only be forcefully taken into custody, if the person had committed a crime, he explained.

In cases where threats are allegedly made, the police are only empowered to warn the accused person, Chin said.

“The police have no power to detain or forcefully take someone to get medical attention, because the Act says that the police responsibility where the person has not committed an offence is to accompany the person,” said Chin.

“If the person commits an offence, it is clear that the police must act in terms of whether it’s a threat or any other offence. However, for a threat the action of the police is not to arrest or take [the person] to a medical facility. The police action is to warn the individual said to have carried out the threat, that is the extent of our legal powers under the law,” said Chin.

“We are willing and we have a duty to assist any agency [needing] to execute their functions … we can assist the Ministry of Health by providing security when they are going to execute their operations…” he added.

Pressed by a frustrated Smith, Chin argued, “We [police] cannot go against how the law is worded…”

Parliament would have to amend the law, he said. Jamaicans should also bear in mind that police “are not equipped to deal with medical situations”, he said.

Chin argued that mentally ill people have “the same rights” as others presumed to be sane.

Dr Tonia Dawkins-Beharie, medical officer for St Elizabeth, who attended the municipal corporation meeting virtually, said police and health teams do corporate as a matter of routine.

In response to a question from mayor of Black River and chairman of the municipality Derrick Sangster regarding the “monitoring” of diagnosed mentally ill people on the streets, Dawkins-Beharie said such people receive medication monthly, by way of an injection.

According to Dawkins-Beharie, “The real issue at hand is that mental health is not a medical problem alone, it’s not a police problem alone, it is a community problem… we need all of the community support including the municipal corporation [and] we need the family support…”

She argued that “before the [mentally ill] get to a stage where they are aggressive, they ought to be brought in for care. If they are not able to be brought in for care, we can be contacted or the social support services should be contacted to ensure they get the necessary attention. It’s an all-of-us approach because I think all of us are involved…”

She noted that street people including the mentally ill need shelter. “That’s something that needs to be considered…,” she said.

Discussions about the mentally ill heightened across the nation recently, following the beheading of a St James woman allegedly by her mentally ill 29-year-old son. Following that incident, the accused man reportedly surrendered to police.