2010/05/26 Council Agenda Packet

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Mr. Mayor, City Council Members: I attempted to make sure that a family member had prescribed medications, since recently being taken into custody in the city jail. Making sure there were medications, or that there was at least access to medications should have been a simple task, but it immediately became a frustrating exercise in futility. It has been made clear to me that the city jail is not the responsibility of the City of Everett and the Mayor. However, it would be gratifying to know that the mayor of this fair city is increasingly aware that people who care about what happens to their loved ones just need to holler sometimes. Police are usually our first responders in almost every abnormal occurrence, and we see more and more involvement of law enforcement when someone is in crisis due to mental breakdowns and becoming symptomatic. Too often we hear, "Well, if they won't behave themselves, let them learn their lesson. Well, how do you teach a disease how to behave? "Let them learn their lesson ..." This supposedly "tough love" response to acting -out behavior has become a catch -phrase for responding to need with indifference and dismissal. There is such a very fine line between what's supposed to be tough love and what is actually abuse. Too often we don't know when we've crossed that line. Yes, police are our first responders to crisis. However, their responses go all the way from exacerbation by increasing stress for the mentally challenged, to suicide by cop, when the real culprit — mental health distress or disorder — goes unaffected in any positive way. In these circumstances police are responding to need for help for a father or mother, son or daughter, sister or brother, nephew or niece. Police are responding to persons who are not isolated or socially cut off. They are persons with family and friends who love them — who care about what happens to them and support them. But the hands of those who care are tied when the law enforcement system becomes involved.