PORT MARIA, St Mary — A call has been made for greater collaboration between health officials and the police in St Mary, with each side urging the other to do its job in handling mentally ill individuals who appear to be violent.

The issue was raised during the most recent monthly meeting of the municipal corporation. Among those weighing in was superintendent in charge of the St Mary Police Division, Bobette Morgan-Simpson.

“Many times when we call on the mental health department, the expectation is that we should catch these persons and then they will come,” she told the meeting.

“While we [the police] have a policy that treats with how to deal with mental health, the police are not trained per se to deal with some of these persons, and so we need to have a greater partnership between the police and the health ministry in terms of how we deal with these mental cases. It is really a challenge that we are facing,” she lamented.

She warned that the parish’s murder rate may increase if the issue is not addressed.

“We have a number of issues with mental cases. It’s really a miracle that we have not had more murders that emanate from disputes where persons with mental challenges are concerned. Some of them are very violent,” Morgan-Simpson said.

“Right now I have a case with a sister who keeps calling me because of a brother who has a serious violence problem who has promised to burn down the house and to stab up and do all kinds of things,” she disclosed.

When contacted, medical officer of health for St Mary, Dr Tamara Henry told the Jamaica Observer that health officials in the parish continue to work with the police to address issues regarding people who are mentally unwell.

“We have always been a sort of support to the police, and we continue to re-sensitise them on their own force orders,” she added. “What we have found is that they keep on indicating to the public that they don’t know what to do, and that is surprising to me as it is in their force orders. That’s not something we made up…”

Under the Force Order Publication, the police are required to respond promptly to reports regarding mentally ill people — whether they are at home or in the streets, and whether or not they already committed an offence.

If the mentally ill person is violent or is posing a threat, the police should first respond and secure the location then make a call to the Community Mental Health Crisis Team (CMHCT), the force orders said.

It added that the police should evacuate and secure persons and property if necessary, and also provide security and remain on the scene until the CMHCT arrives.

Upon the arrival of the CMHCT, the police should hand over the situation to them, but maintain the desired level of security for the safety of all concerned.

The force orders added that the CMHCT will engage the mentally challenged person verbally to neutralise the threat, but, if that fails, the CMHCT and police will use appropriate tactics to subdue or apprehend the subject.

According to the force orders, “police personnel must develop awareness on the range of mental disorders that may possibly affect both internal and external customers”. Dr Henry spoke of the work they have been doing to help the police accomplish this.

“For several years, I know the North East Regional Health Authority [which covers St Mary, St Ann and Portland] has been training and re-sensitising the Jamaica Constabulary Force as to how to respond to those reports,” Dr Henry told the Observer. “Up to two years ago our mental health officers were going around to the different police stations and assisting them or reminding them of how to proceed [regarding reports about people who are mentally unwell].”

She added that health personnel in St Mary have not been receiving many reports about mentally challenged people being violent or posing a threat in the parish.

“We have a community programme where we move from community to community and we medicate persons on spot — those that are already known to us — and so we don’t have this challenge in regards to violence by persons who are mentally unwell. There are many people who would not even know them because they are well managed and well maintained,” Dr Henry said.

She also emphasised that individuals who are mentally unwell have rights under the law, like everyone else.

“There are some family members who believe that, because a person is mentally unwell, we should force them into taking medication. We have to remember we cannot do that. They are autonomous…,” Dr Henry asserted. “We want people to remember and to treat mentally unwell persons as people that have rights and [who] should not be coerced.”