South Bend police policy on mental illness response unchanged year after deadly standoff

SOUTH BEND — Police were widely criticized in 2022 for not calling mental health professionals to the scene of a standoff at which they fatally shot Dante Kittrell after the mentally ill man pointed a gun that officers later determined was a toy.

A year after the deadly standoff, which occurred in a field near Coquillard Elementary School on July 29, 2022, city officials maintain that officers followed procedure, saying police, not unarmed mental health professionals, were best equipped to handle the situation. That policy remains in place today, South Bend Mayor James Mueller said Thursday.

"The policies were there, and it still rings true that, unfortunately, when there's a dangerous situation where someone is armed and dangerous, the police will be present," he said.

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Since the incident, Oaklawn mental health center has set up working agreements that allow its mobile crisis team to be dispatched to situations that do not require a police presence, the mayor said. He also heralded the start of the construction for a new behavioral crisis center, saying that the city and the state are starting to see the need to fund centers and programs for mental health issues.

So far in 2023, there have been 664 mental health calls for service, and none resulted in the use of lethal force, South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski said in a prepared statement.

"We take pride in our officers' response to mental health calls each day," he said.

Ricky Mountsier, director of crisis services for Oaklawn's mobile crisis team, said the team operates much like the fire department's first responders who have police secure incident scenes before tending to the emergency.

"We have to make sure the scene is safe to enable the team to engage with the patient," Mountsier said. "Safety is paramount for the patient, the team and everyone."

Help, not jail

St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman knows that assessing the mental health needs of inmates in the county jail under his jurisdiction is a challenge. A crisis center and mobile mental health team, he said, are ways to keep the jail from being an inadequate destination for people who need mental health services.

"It should be our role and our goal to keep as many people who are dealing with mental health issues out of our jail," Redman said. By supporting a crisis center, the sheriff said, proper evaluation of people could take away what he calls a poor option of placing people in crisis in jail cells rather than in places where they can get help.

Redman said the county has set up its own crisis services team, where an officer and trained personnel work with Oaklawn professionals to try to ensure that services can be implemented for people in and outside of jail.

County police officers, like South Bend and other jurisdictions, are sent on calls where, often times, the underlying issues of why they were called involve a mental crisis that has manifested into a domestic disturbance, an assault or some other incident.

Both Redman and Ruszkowski say their officers deal with de-escalation and assessment of people on calls, and their skills show in the resolution of the vast number of cases that they handle.

Behavioral crisis team explained

The team from Oaklawn is made up of a clinical therapist with a master's degree and a case manager. They are joined by four peer support professionals to handle the cases where adults are in crisis, Mountsier said.

Using what he called "evidence-based" screening tools, the team goes to work when called by the 9-1-1 dispatch center, area agencies or from anyone who is determined to need a face-to-face assessment.

The assessment, however, often can be handled by the initial phone call, be it through the new 9-8-8 suicide hotline, by Oaklawn's own crisis center hotline or through callers.

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"National statistics show that 80% of crisis situations can be handled over the phone," Mountsier said. "Some people don't want us to come out, some do, but we gather as much information on what's going on and use assessment tools to be best prepared to help that person."

The crisis team is the center "pillar" of a three-step approach to crisis care management. The call centers and crisis hotlines are the first step, while the mobile team offers the assessment.

The third "pillar," Mountsier said, is the services that are available to people in crisis.

"It is our job to assess and get them help to resolve their crisis," he said. "Sometimes, it's hospitalization, or it can be outpatient assessment at Oaklawn," he said. "Other times, it can be something like food insecurity, or clothing assistance. We try and figure out what that person's needs are."

The team, however, only operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. There are plans for the team to expand to seven days per week during that time frame starting in August, but Mountsier is hopeful and confident that the team can eventually grow to a 24-7 operation.

Crisis center work begins

Oaklawn has begun the renovation of the south end of the first floor of the Memorial Epworth Building at 420 N. Niles Ave. for a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week behavioral crisis center. Laurie Nafziger, CEO and president of Oaklawn, said the hope is to have the center ready and staffed for a winter opening.

A "dirt-free" groundbreaking is set for Aug. 8 because it is a renovation of an existing building.

The center is designed for people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. In a casual “living room” model, recliners will serve in the absence of beds and the center will be staffed by therapists, doctors, nurses, peer support professionals and others for people in crisis. Officials say the plan is for people to be quickly assessed, de-escalated, stabilized and linked to what treatments would be necessary.

The center is being built with a $2.66 million contribution of American Rescue Plan money from the city of South Bend. On Jan. 3, Mueller pledged that money to build the center and fund it for its first year after the county's Board of Commissioners tabled a vote Dec. 20 on an agreement to assist the center and encumber the $2.7 million of ARP dollars for the crisis center that the prior county council had voted 9-0 to approve in December 2021. At the time, city, county, law enforcement and Oaklawn officials had spent close to two years planning the center.

The St. Joseph County Council, however, did vote in March to give $600,000 from the county’s share of opioid settlement money to Oaklawn for the crisis center if the agency can match it within a year.

Nafziger said she was confident the agency would be able to comply with the matching funding.

"A big gap exists for people with behavioral and substance abuse crises," Nafziger said. "There is outpatient and inpatient services at two ends of the continuum. There has been a big gap in the middle that should not rely on jail or the E.R. This (crisis center) is a gap we're trying to fill."

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Police still to be called for crisis response involving weapons