This commentary is by Robyn Freedner-Maguire, a parent volunteer for Mental Health First for BTV.
The national news last week of Angelo Quinto’s death in Northern California is a chilling reminder to Vermont families and caregivers of people living with a mental health condition or disability that it’s time to move away from police response to mental health crises.
Mr. Quinto, a veteran who served and sacrificed for our country, died when police arrived at his home in response to a crisis call in December. Based on his mother’s account, Mr. Quinto had started to calm down prior to the police’s arrival as she held him. When police engaged, they quickly escalated the crisis and handcuffed Mr. Quinto. A lawsuit filed recently by his family alleges police kneeled on his neck for nearly five minutes, suffocating him.
For people with typically developed children and loved ones, imagining what led to Mr. Quinto’s death seems unfathomable. However, for families with children and young adults with mental health conditions or disabilities, Mr. Quinto’s death is not surprising. We know all too well that the same outcome has happened in Burlington and it will likely happen again.
News of Mr. Quinto occurred just days after Mental Health First for BTV hosted a community forum to highlight a program called Crisis Assistance and Help on The Streets (CAHOOTS). MHF BTV is a newly formed movement of parents, mental health professionals, and community organizations that’s calling for immediate investment in crisis and prevention services.
CAHOOTS is a non-police, trauma-informed response to crisis. It’s based in Eugene, Oregon, has a 30-year proven track record of success, and is widely recognized as the gold standard in crisis response, which has led cities large and small across the country to replicate it. We at MHF BTV believe it’s time to bring it to Vermont to save lives, prevent trauma and decriminalize mental health.
People who experience a mental health condition, behavioral issue, or disability — and their parents and caregivers who love them — know intimately that the state heavily relies on the police for mental health care during a crisis. Just one example is the little-known but deeply disturbing fact that families and caregivers are instructed to call the police on our children, even for low-escalation situations.
As shared by one parent at the MHF BTV forum, Dr. Maggie Graham, it’s a grueling and false choice that pits parents against their children, especially with knowledge and lived experience that police too often escalate or worsen the crisis.
In Burlington, this false choice has been lethal. Within the past eight years, we know of three community members who struggled with mental health issues who died when police engaged. We also know that our children and young adults experience insult or injury as untrained officers act with the lens of criminality, not care, leading to untherapeutic restraints and assaults with pepper spray or tasers.
There have been commissions formed, reports issued and press attention. We do not need to study this issue anymore. We know the harm done when armed officers who are untrained arrive, and it’s time that we pursue models like CAHOOTS that show us the way to decriminalizing mental health and providing support.
The CAHOOTS model deploys an unarmed mental health crisis worker paired with a medic, both of whom have received 500 hours of training in de-escalation and crisis intervention. No worker or patient has been injured, and of the 24,000 call responses in 2019, only 311 required police cover requests.
Additionally, the CAHOOTS service area includes a population of 160,000 and operates 24/7 with a budget of $2.1 million annually. The annual savings is $8 million in public safety and $14 million in emergency department and ambulatory care. For concerned taxpayers, the CAHOOTS cost-effectiveness alone should have municipal and state leaders taking a serious look at it.
However, let it be clear that for families and mental health professionals involved in MHF BTV, the central appeal about CAHOOTS is that it’s about care and connection, not criminalization. The decoupling from police involvement also doubles down on the state mental health department and the city’s commitment to rooting out racist and oppressive practices, systems, and programs. Given this commitment and our understanding of the traumatic impact that policing has on our Black, Indigeneous and people of color community, the notion that BIPOC and multiracial families should tolerate advice from mental health agencies to call the police on family and community members warrants a deeper examination of whiteness in our mental health system.
Our hearts and thoughts go to Mr. Quinto and his grieving family. We also hold Burlington victims Phil Grenon, Douglas Kilburn and Wayne Brunette close, along with the hundreds of other families who live in silence because of stigma. We see you, and we will not rest until real change occurs, so our families are safe and supported with care.
