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Just another in a recent spike in homeless
arrests. 20 percent arrested this month have
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been homeless. You get arrested just because
you're homeless.
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The typical long-term chronic homeless person
is being put in jail a lot, because of small
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petty crimes, open containers,
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trespassing, loitering, all those kinds of
things. Columbia, South Carolina, another
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city criminalizing homelessness. Well where
are the homeless people supposed to go?
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The homeless end up in criminal justice systems,
because there hasn't been a better alternative.
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I served three and a half years at the Utah
State Prison, so I've been homeless a little
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over a year now.This morning I had got out
of jail, sat down like this, the officer had
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pulled up on his motorcycle. He told me I
was going to jail. This was the same officer
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who had just taken me to jail not even 24
hours ago. Our homeless need long-term treatment
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solutions, instead of just incarcerations
and then put them, put them back in the street.
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Just because I don't have a car, I don't have
a credit card in my pocket, or change in my
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pocket, or a home to go, does not make me
a criminal.
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We did a survey here -about 20,000 dollars
per person, per year, on the street, because
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of emergency services costs.
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Jail time, EMT runs, emergency room visits,
and so when we realized we were incurring
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those costs anyway, there's a much more humane
and economic way in order to meet their needs.
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You'd be surprised whose homeless. Most people
who are homeless, they are running away from
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problems, they are running away from, you
know, drug addiction. I got molested when
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I was a kid, about 6-years-old, started drinking
early age of 13. I couldn't deal with my problems.
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I've been homeless for the last 20 years.
About 10 percent of the homeless population
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were chronically homeless. A chronic homeless
individual that's been homeless a year or
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more or four times in three years. A lot of
mental health issues, substance abuse issues.
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We decided to adopt a housing first model.
Instead of asking people to change their
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lives before we gave them housing, we chose
to give them housing, along with the supportive
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services and then allow them to change their
lives if they wanted the supportive services
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and then allow them to change their lives
if they wanted to. We can house them for about
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7,800 dollars per person, per year, for
case management and rental assistance in a
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housing unit. 2005, in order
to get into housing, you needed to be clean,
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dry, and sober, and if you fell off the wagon,
then you lost your housing and case management.
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Well, we weren't
reducing homelessness. In 1998, we got kicked
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out because I was using drugs. We went back
again, like a routine for the last 15 years.
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I mean, it was hard. Having a house is the
stable base for everything. If you don't have
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a stable place to live, that's going to be
the
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biggest crisis on your mind every day when
you go to bed, whereas, when you're in own
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home, that whole level of stress is taken
away, and now you can focus on everything
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else that you need to focus on in your life.
Well it works, because we've come down 72
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percent from our high in 2005. Getting my
house in here, literally saved my life. Well
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they arrested me at least 18 times. Ended
up at the detox. So police brought me in there,
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I was pretty sad, I was shaking hard, but
after they moved me in here, I mean, I had
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towels up there, clean sheets, pots and pans,
they brought me a big
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boxful of canned goods. He said, well, anything
you need, call me. And I looked around and
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I told him, I said, no Ed, I've got it from
here. We've been able to show that if you
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house people properly and correctly, is that
it takes them out of the judicial system and
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the recidivisim rate decreases. It's kind
of
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like a security place for me. I know I got
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a place to stay, it's a good, good feeling.
If I was still a homeless guy, I would have
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continued on, drank myself to death at this
point. My first complete, 100 percent sober
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year, and it's a good start, I feel,
you know? Not the end of my program [laughing],
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but it's a good start! The ultimate goal is
to eliminate chronic homelessness here in
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Utah by the year 2015,
and the results here prove that that is an
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achievable goal. The old approach of emergency
shelters and transitional housing has been
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a failure. Housing first has been accepted
nationally. This is the key to ending chronic
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homelessness.
The Casper Housing Authorities trying out
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a system they first saw in Salt Lake City.
Staff say they've already seen success stories.
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Now with the housing first, we're much more
successful in getting them housed and out
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of the criminal justice system and off the
street, and help them integrate back into
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society.
We're actually moving out today. It means
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a lot to me to have my family back in, We're
actually moving out today. It means a lot
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to me to have my family back in, where we
can by ourselves. It does help you if you
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do need to come here, everyone needs a helping
hand here and there. It is most cost-effective.
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We can serve more people with the same amount
of dollars than if we didn't do this
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program, but it's also the right thing to
do. It just makes sense.
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I got arrested about 34 times due to drugs.
Over and over again. Over and over and over
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again.
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I was arrested 14 times for being under
the influence of a narcotic.
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And no one say, this is his 14th time through
here, your honor, for the same charge. He
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needs help.
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What if we tried something different?
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I've been arrested so many different times.
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I've had a couple of possession charges, I've
had a couple prostitution charges. I've had
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a ton of probation violations.
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I really can't even remember what the first
thing I got arrested for.
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Urban drug addiction has been with us for
as long as we've had cities, and so many major
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social problems come to the criminal justice
system to be fixed because there isn't something
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else out there. But don't ask the criminal
justice system to do it all, because the only
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thing we really know how to do is send people
to prison.
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So eventually I started living in a tent,
and this is kind of my old home. This is what
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looks like, back here. There was an endless
cycle. It was between tent and jail for like
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7 years. I've probably been booked in and
out King County Jail like 50 times.
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It
hurt to lay down, it hurt to stand up, it
was really excruciating.
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I came to Seattle
because I wanted to buy a large amount of
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OxyContins.
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They weren't readily available,
and everybody kept offering me heroin.
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I turned it down for four days, and finally
I was so sick, I was puking, I had diarrhea,
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I was shaking.
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I felt like I was going to die. So finally
I caved in and I did heroin.
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And my addiction got out of hand, and three
or four days turned into like 9 years.
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Belltown kind of runs between First Avenue
and Fourth Avenue. Almost every other night
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on the news, there was just like constant
arrests happening.
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It goes on in the open for everyone to see.
Two days ago, we saw probably 40 dealers.
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Drug addiction in Belltown is rampant.
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Police published this photo to show how many
they collected in just one week. A few times
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I honestly tried to just kick it on my own,
but I got so sick, I was to the point where
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it was either I have to be on methadone and
quit, or I'm going to die.
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I asked to speak to the sergeant,
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I told him nobody's ever given me a chance
before. So, I'm sitting in this cell, and
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I'm already getting sick, and he comes back
and he tells me, for your own good, I hope
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that you make it to that methadone appointment.
There's one thing you have to do for me first,
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is you have to talk to these people from this
new program called the LEAD program, and then
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you're free. You can leave. I had never been
given a chance before.
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The approach that we had over the last 35
years or so of just arresting and putting
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people in prison for having serious addictions,
well, we all know, intellectually, that's
00:09:26
not the answer. We finally sat down and said,
well, what we really want to do is have another
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option for the officer on the street, something
other than taking them up to jail. What if
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you, instead, you can take them right to a
treatment program.
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One reason it works is it costs the taxpayer's
a lot more money for them to be on the streets.
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It costs a lot more money for police, it costs
a lot more money for hospital visits.
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In the end, it's the humane, financial, smart
thing
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to do.
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And that's what the LEAD program does, it
provides both the relief to the neighborhood,
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the police will come and respond to open air
drug dealing, but it also can provide relief
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and hope to people who have had long-term
addiction.
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Long-term addiction literally changes the
chemical makeup of your brain, and it makes
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it impossible for you to be anything but an
addict.
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I had everything that I would possibly want,
a beautiful wife, two great kids.
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At one time, I was making up to 185,000 dollars
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a year. I just loved, I love heroin, I love
that feeling. The good times don't last.
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I've seen tons and tons of people get arrested
for it, and I've been stopped and caught with
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drugs on me a number of times. Personally,
I've seen five people overdose and die.
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I know about 15. The last partner I worked
with
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overdosed and died in front of me.
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It was almost like this is my last chance.
I can
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either wake up the next morning and go into
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treatment or I can come back here. Officer
Willaby, he just said, have I had enough?
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So I answered an affirmative, and he was like,
well let's see what we can do.
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Drug use and abuse should primarily be treated
as a public health issue. LEAD is a harm-reduction
00:11:11
program and if they do choose to be in the
LEAD program, they will receive individualized
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case services, whether it be substance abuse
treatment, or housing, or job training, with
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an understanding that breaking addiction,
which can you know last for decades, is not
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going to be an
00:11:26
overnight process. So it's really about meeting
the client where they are at, and trying to
00:11:31
help with their basic needs first, and then
trying to work on substance abuse treatment.
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It wasn't government telling this person,
this is what you need, it was the person who
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had been struggling with addiction saying,
this is what I need to get back on my feet,
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and through the skillful help of the case
managers, we're able to customize a way out
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for so many people.
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Most of the services in this city, you get
like one shot. They give you all these services,
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they try to help you, and you test dirty,
you're fucked. They, they will, they will
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drop you. You know, I've relapsed, so I didn't
call them or even go to the LEAD office for
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like two weeks, and when I walked in, my case
worker, [inaudible], was like, where have
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you been? And I remember this very clearly,
he said, so what, what, what's next? What
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do we do next? I think I actually cried. For
the first time in over, like, 5 years to not
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feel like somebody had given up on me.
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I've been working with Brad just about a year
now, and so, wherever he's at, I'll be there,
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and I always tell my clients that, like, whether
you're doing great, whether you're not doing
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great, we're going to continue to work together.
What makes us different is that, you know,
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we have a relationship with me, you know,
actually hear their story, because a lot of
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our clients, you know, people don't really
care about their story, so, respecting them
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and giving them dignity increases the likelihood
of change.
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We can use the power of the law, and not as
a blunt instrument, but as a way to nudge
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people toward an outcome that is better for
them, that's better for the community.
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My life now is amazing. I have been clean
for like a year and a half. I'm going to college.
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I wake up in a house, it's not a tent anymore.
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61 days ago, I was homeless, full-on in my
addiction, and today I go to meetings, I'm
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clean, I've been through a treatment program,
and none of that would have happened without
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LEAD.
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A couple of our detectives that have been
working in the Belltown area for a long time,
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they were just saying how now it is like 90
percent different, as far as like very few
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people out compared to what it was 2, 3, 4
years ago, before LEAD.
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The LEAD program is now expanding from Belltown
throughout the downtown core and into Chinatown.
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We have a lot of people in need. So we have
the resources now to go out and individually
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work with them. It's also been operating in
Skyway, it has now been replicated in
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Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Do you want the same old, same old with the
same results? Or do you want something that
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works?
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It's working here in Seattle, I think it can
work anywhere. We're happy to be the example
00:14:07
that shows that harm reduction, working hand-in-hand
with law enforcement can take us into a new
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approach to drug crimes, and I think our nation
desperately needs that.
00:14:23
What's one of several police shootings involving
people with mental illness. 18-year-old, Keith
00:14:29
Vidal, struggled with schizophrenia. He wasn't
violent, and all they wanted was help getting
00:14:34
him to treatment. Seconds later, the officers
shot and killed him. They murdered our son!
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For no reason!
00:14:44
Another disturbing video that raises
questions about the treatment of the mentally
00:14:48
ill behind bars.
00:14:49
He would hear voices. The extraction team
restrained him. Minutes later, the 33-year-old
00:14:54
was dead.
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Jails are the number one mental health facilities
across the country. They house more mentally-ill
00:15:01
person than versus any hospital, any psych
facilities, any anything. They're patients,
00:15:05
not prisoners.
00:15:07
Mental illness is the only disease that when
you're in a crisis, the cops are called. You're
00:15:17
having a heart attack, you don't call the
police. People with mental illness are being
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criminalized instead of being provided treatment.
00:15:23
These county jails and law enforcement, that's
the public safety net, that's where you end
00:15:27
up.
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There has to be some sort of solution, some
sort of help, for people who are suffering
00:15:32
from mental illness and become involved with
the police.
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Jeff was the youngest of our four. He was
finally diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic.
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When he was totally out of control and very
frightening, I would have to call the police
00:15:52
on him. They didn't know what to do.
00:16:01
I would get calls all the time when I was
on patrol for a person who was in a mental
00:16:05
health crisis. I had no clue how to handle
it, and I would just keep getting the repeat
00:16:09
calls every couple days or every week, to
the same house, the same person, and I just
00:16:15
accepted it that, well, this person's just
going to be a repeat caller.
00:16:20
We decided very early on that we needed to
address folks that were non-violent misdemeanor
00:16:25
offenders, that were truly being put in jail
because of their illness.
00:16:30
We knew that it was law enforcement that were
first responders, and that they would be the
00:16:34
ones that would be in contact with individuals
in crisis.
00:16:38
So we decided what we would do first is train
law enforcement officers, 40-hour crisis intervention
00:16:44
training.
00:16:45
So they're trained to recognize mental
illness.
00:16:47
When they come on somebody that's got kind
of strange behavior, they're not using their
00:16:51
command voice and the command presence like
they're taught in the academy. They realize
00:16:54
oh, right away, that this person has a problem.
We brought together a bunch of law enforcement
00:16:59
officers from the sheriff and the San Antonio
Police Department, and every one of them didn't
00:17:03
want to be there. I heard things like, I'm
a cop, I'm not a social worker, I don't believe
00:17:08
in these hug-a-thug programs. And this is
a bunch of BS.
00:17:13
Before I went through the 40-hour CIT training
myself, I didn't have the resources on how
00:17:17
to handle mental illness. Well now, its way
different, you know? I have confidence that
00:17:23
when I go into someone's home, if they are
experiencing some type of, you know, mental
00:17:27
health crisis, that I can get them to the
right facility, and then I may never hear
00:17:32
from them again.
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I'm a mother, I'm a sister, I'm a friend,
I'm a voter, I'm a volunteer, I'm all these
00:17:39
people. I contribute to my community, and
I have a mental illness. My diagnosis is major
00:17:47
depression with psychotic features, dissociative
identity disorder, and panic disorders. I've
00:17:54
done the presentations to CIT training, and
I tell them, I want to be treated the way
00:18:00
you want your mother to be treated if she
was ever diagnosed with a mental illness.
00:18:06
If I'm in a crisis, you know, I'm having a
crisis, and I don't, I don't understand what's
00:18:13
going on around me.
00:18:15
Get back! Get back! Get down! Don't do it!
In incidents with people who have mental health
00:18:21
issues, it's unfortunate to see the ones that
result in the use of deadly force, where an
00:18:27
officer didn't have CIT training and, possibly,
armed with that kind of information, that
00:18:33
kind of training, outcomes may have been different.
00:18:39
I never knew each morning when I got up, what
I might find. He began to talk about a fire
00:18:47
in the garage. So I thought, would he without
knowing what he's doing, start a fire?
00:18:56
How much danger is he in and how much danger
am
00:19:00
I in?
00:19:01
So I called the police and I said I'm terribly
frightened.
00:19:06
When they arrived, I introduced him to Jeff,
and in this case, they came in plain clothing.
00:19:14
They weren't in police uniforms. Now they
could have handcuffed him I guess and pulled
00:19:20
him out,
00:19:21
but they are taught how different that
person is they're dealing with.
00:19:27
So they began to talk to Jeff. If they can
get the person
00:19:33
that's ill
00:19:34
to in their own mind, they're cooperating,
it's far less violent, it's better
00:19:41
for the patient, and certainly it's better
00:19:44
for our police.
00:19:46
When non-violent people go to jail with mental
illness, they stay three or four times longer
00:19:51
than a violent offender, but if when they
get released, if they're not hooked up into
00:19:55
treatment, they're going to be right back
in. There is so many in their emergency rooms
00:20:00
who shouldn't be there. Previous police chief
here actually kept data on how long his officers
00:20:05
were spending in the emergency rooms waiting
for psych evals and medical clearance, 8 to
00:20:09
14 hours. He spent 600,000 dollars a year
on overtime. Now here at the restoration center,
00:20:15
law enforcement officers are in and out within
15 minutes.
00:20:23
What we have here at, at the restoration center
is it services patients who are in crisis.
00:20:27
It's either walk-in or brought in here by
a CIT. They recognize the patients in crisis,
00:20:32
they're not truly suicidal or they don't really
want to hurt somebody, they just need help.
00:20:36
There about 18,000 people a year who are brought,
mainly by law enforcement officers, to this
00:20:41
restoration center, who used to go to jail
or emergency rooms or put back on the street.
00:20:46
If you're a taxpayer and really don't know
a lot about mental illness, the fact the public's
00:20:50
a lot safer when these people get treated,
and the taxpayer's saves a ton of money.
00:20:59
Over the last five years, we've saved about
50 million dollars, in taxpayer's dollars.
00:21:05
We want everyone trained because of the potential,
daily, that someone's going to come across
00:21:10
someone who's in crisis. It's not a matter
of if, it's a matter of how soon?
00:21:17
We've been coming up on six years, of existence,
and we don't have a use of force on our, on
00:21:27
our unit,
00:21:27
which means we've never tased anybody,
we've never shot anybody, we've never hit
00:21:32
anybody with an asp, but patients, talking
to them, we get the result we want in the
00:21:36
end
00:21:36
and we don't have to force it on them.
00:21:38
You want CIT to respond, because you're going
to get the help that you need rather than
00:21:45
being sent to jail.
00:21:47
The issues that police officers have with
people who have mental illness is not unique
00:21:51
to San Antonio, that's all over the country,
all over the world. So any city that would
00:21:55
decide to focus on this, put an emphasis on
this, would certainly benefit from it.
00:22:00
I no longer thought, what if they have to
shoot Jeff?
00:22:04
We save money, we improve public safety, and
people can get functional again. I mean, why
00:22:10
wouldn't you do this? It's really a, a no-brainer.
