By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
A LOCAL clinical psychologist said that more people in society, including police officers, need training in sensitisation and understanding of mental illness.
The comment came after a man who according to police “charged at’’ a police officer with a cutlass was fatally shot by police at a home on Poitier Avenue and Foster Street in Chippingham on Tuesday.
Police had been called to the home by relatives because the deceased had been behaving “erratically,” according to reports.
A cousin of the deceased told reporters what led to the incident, suggesting some mental illness may have been involved. However, the relative noted the deceased has never been diagnosed as a mental patient before.
“The way how he was carrying on, sound like something that needed to be treated – quick and fast,” the relative, who did not want to be named, had previously told The Tribune.
After the shooting, some people argued that police could have used non-lethal means to subdue the deceased instead of deadly force, considering the police were called to help him.
When asked if police are trained in handling suspects with mental health issues, Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters told The Tribune that police are trained in what is called a “use of force continuum”.
“Officers are aware of the various degrees that we use when dealing with suspects whether they be of sound mind or (have) mental issues,” ASP Peters said.
According to the US National Institute of Justice, a use of force continuum “generally has many levels, and officers are instructed to respond with a level of force appropriate to the situation at hand, acknowledging that the officer may move from one part of the continuum to another in a matter of seconds.”
Asked if force is the last alternative when approaching persons with mental health issues, ASP Peters answered: “That is a situational question that only a person involved can determine.”
Dr Wendy Fernander, a clinical psychologist and president of the Bahamas Psychological Association, believes that more people can benefit from sensitisation training as it relates to mental illness.
She said there are misconceptions about mental illness that need to be cleared up, including the assumption that those who are mentally ill “may be automatically aggressive but then they are least likely to be aggressive than person within your general population.”
She added: “So that is some of the information I think people aren’t aware of. So automatically you see someone who is mentally unwell and you think that ‘Oh they’re gonna come after me’ but those are the persons who are more often taken advantage of and less likely to be the perpetrators.”
However, she stressed she was speaking generally and not about the individual involved in this week’s incident.
Comments
John 3 years, 5 months ago
Every Bahamian has at least one episode in their life time when they "snap.' They just get outside their character and behave erratically or what is unbecoming of them. Sometimes this can last for hours days or weeks. Anytime beyond that the person is considered to be mentally ill and will need mental care. Years ago there were many characters on the streets of Nassau who were considered to be crazy. They would disappear from time to time when their condition became unmanageable and they were considered a threat either to themselves or to others. They were sent to Sandilands for rehabilitation. Usually these episodes were brought on by alcohol, or stress. Stress from work or a relationship or just from ordinary day to day living. Today a lot of metal disorders are caused by drug abuse or a combination of drugs and alcohol. And as doctors will tell you, some persons cannot tolerate the least amount of drugs or alcohol in their system. It will set them crazy. And there is a personality change after this first 'tripout" and the person will never be the same again. Some people change their dialect or slang and sometimes they change all their friends and social habits. Many chose to be alone and find interacting with other people 'annoying. Persons who live with family members with these conditions learn to cope with them and leave them alone. And when an episode or mental attack comes about, they must be assured that they can call on the proper resources and professional help will be available to them, The last thig they need or expect is the person in need of help is shot dead.. Four rounds to the chest. Was this excessive force/lack of training maybe. So now the family, who called for assistance and the police who responded must drown in guilt. At least for a while. The steps should be simple. Get professional help as quickly as possible. Get the patient calmed and restrained or restrained and calmed. Get them to the hospital Nothing else can be done until blood tests are made to determine what is in the patient's system. Then the doctor may chose to sedate them or further evaluate them in their conscious state. If the erratic or abnormal behavior continues, the doctor may commit them to Sandilands for their own safety and further treatment. Sometimes if the psychosis is drug induced, it may be days before the patient 'catches himself' and comes to his senses. And if it is drugs (or alcohol) and he chooses to try it again after he is released from Sandilands, the process starts allover again. So they may be required to attend out-patient clinic for follow -up treatment and counselling sessions.
carltonr61 3 years, 5 months ago
Covid authority that has Bahamians home jailed culturally, economically, religiously, socially for 455 days has driven many to pray, but will loose it mentally. Police assisted suicide is here as the dangers Covid is ripening. By the end of this year there maybe at least 30 deaths where persons snap under authorities chillingly inhuman leadership. We are like black crabs in a pen now. Penned up crabs without freedom will attack each other. We have been totally dehumanized by soulless Covid laws that has officers sitting out on the sand to enforce further our captivity and reenforcing psychological burdons of living in a steel cage. Now the upcoming armed police demanding vaccination certificates as if we are living in Hitler's Auschwitz. Either Hitler is mad or we are.
JokeyJack 3 years, 4 months ago
My friend, the world hasn't even begun to see suicides yet. When they start happening at a rate of over 1000 per day just in the USA, and hundreds per days in many other countries - then suddenly people (and news outlets) will start making STUPID remarks like "Oh, well nobody could have predicted that would happen." No. Nobody. Idiots.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 4 months ago
also biblical prophecy!
"This sixth opened seal launches horrific terrestrial and celestial disturbances that cause earth's mighty men to hide among the rocks of the mountains. These men call upon rocks to fall on them"
according to this prophecy after the famine and the food shortages and diseases and animals gone wild (yes apparently there's animals chasing us too just like in the end of times movies), after all that man will have had enough and beg to die.
John(disciple John, not tribune John) knew it could happen and apparently he wrote all the disaster scenarios down so we could start disaster planning and as youve said nobody could say, "who knew this could happen,"
off topic, the bible is an amazing book! even if you assume its all fiction. What genius mind could think of these futuristic scenarios even before the invention of the steam engine? Intrigue, love, forbidden love, betrayal, supernatural, family dynamics, war, underdogs .... its all there. Tom Clancy gat nothing on this.
Sign in to comment
OpenID