[I]n the wake of a 76-year-old man’s fatal shooting by police in Burlington last year, a group of public officials, mental health experts, community members and others began meeting.
The group, initially convened by former Chittenden County state Sen. Jim Leddy, made recommendations to lawmakers this week for how the state could work to avoid a similar situation in the future.
Ralph “Phil” Grenon was shot by a Burlington police officer in March after a standoff lasting several hours. Grenon, who had mental health issues, faced eviction and had threatened to kill his neighbors or himself. Police eventually found Grenon in his shower, armed with knives. When a Taser failed to stop him as he came toward police, one officer fired multiple times.
The recommendations from the “Grenon Group,” as members called it, include improving training for police officers, expanding the resources for designated agencies, and establishing a commission to review mental health-related situations that involve law enforcement.
Speaking to about a dozen senators and representatives at the Statehouse on Tuesday, retired Judge Michael Kupersmith cited lack of funding for the nongovernmental organizations that provide mental health services throughout the state as an issue.
Though law enforcement officers are encouraged to reach out to those designated agencies for help when dealing with a person who may be in mental health crisis, “that hasn’t happened very effectively mostly because of lack of funding,” Kupersmith said.
According to him, designated agencies get paid for responding to situations alongside police only if the crisis involves one of their own clients.
“We feel that the whole structure of crisis response needs to be examined and fixed,” Kupersmith said.
The group also recommended improving training for police on how to interact with those who may be in crisis. Currently, training is not consistent across statewide, municipal and county law enforcement agencies. All officers are required to go through basic training for responding to mental health crisis, but additional training programs vary.
Kupersmith and others suggested scenario-based training for officers. One option several agencies use is the Team Two program, a three-year-old collaboration between the departments of Mental Health and Public Safety that trains law enforcement and mental health crisis responders together.
Dr. Richard Bernstein, formerly the director of inpatient services at the University of Vermont Medical Center, is a member of emergency response services in Richmond.
He identified challenges responders face because of variations in training. Local police, state police and others have been trained in different protocols. Under those circumstances, at times “everybody’s best intention becomes chaos,” he said.
Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield, a prominent mental health advocate, said it is not clear how frequently law enforcement interacts with people in crisis, and how many situations end well or poorly.
Some cases generate significant public scrutiny, she said, such as Grenon’s death or a situation in Hinesburg last spring where local police were accused of using excessive force on a woman with a history of mental health issues.
“We don’t know how often we have bad outcomes because they’re not reported,” Donahue said.
The group suggested establishing a commission that would review responses to serious mental health-related situations. The oversight could help improve crisis response across the state, she said.
“We don’t have any comprehensive view of what’s going on statewide,” Donahue said.
Correction: This article originally misidentified the focus of the proposed commission.