By Ted Sherman
nj.com
FORT LEE, N.J. — Weeks after the tragic death of 25-year-old Victoria G. Lee — who was shot in her apartment by a Fort Lee police officer just minutes after her family’s 911 call seeking help — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has issued major changes regarding how officers should handle situations involving barricaded individuals who are frequently in the throes of a mental health crisis.
The revisions, which follow several other similar fatal police shootings of individuals suffering from behavioral or mental health emergencies, come after more than a year of study and discussions with law enforcement agencies across the country, community support groups and mental health experts, Platkin said. The intention is to ensure tactical and crisis-negotiation teams responding to such incidents are optimally trained and have essential resources and equipment they need, he added.
Calling the mandates involving Use of Force guidelines “the first of their kind in the country,” Platkin said encounters involving barricaded individuals are “often difficult and high risk.”
In an interview, he noted that the challenge is not unique to New Jersey , where those in law enforcement are often asked to be patrol officers and mental health counselors at the same time, adding that we can “no longer ask law enforcement to be the sole response.”
“We are encouraging them to slow down, ensuring proper resources are deployed,” he said.
The attorney general’s directives, which will begin to take effect in October, include joining negotiating teams with mental health professionals and even disengaging from the immediate scene as a way of de-escalating the situation. New Jersey already has a program called “Arrive Together,” which pairs police with mental health professionals, but it is not available in every town.
Among the changes:
- Tactical and crisis negotiation teams will be required to identify qualified mental health professionals who will be available to respond to incidents involving a barricaded individual or hostage situation.
- First-responding officers facing a barricaded situation will be advised to wait for “appropriate resources” to respond and not attempt to force a resolution, unless that would be immediately necessary to prevent injury or death.
- In certain situations, the rules call for law enforcement to consider tactical disengagement — a decision to leave, delay contact, delay custody or planning to make contact at a different time and under different circumstances — as a possible method of reaching a resolution, particularly when “continued contact may result in an unreasonable risk.”
- Law enforcement agencies will have to adopt policies mandating an immediate response by an on-duty supervisor to barricaded situations who will establish incident command to begin determining what resources are needed. Additionally, the tactical unit notified must be what’s known as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 SWAT team, which Platkin said have more personnel and greater capabilities when it comes to rescuing hostages and dealing with barricaded subjects.
- Tactical teams will also be required to carry less lethal weapons, such as Tasers and impact munitions, in an effort to resolve incidents without the use of deadly force.
Platkin would not discuss the Lee case, which is still under investigation, other than to say his heart goes out to her family. But her death follows a number of others with similar outcomes. Earlier this week, the sister of Andrew “Drew” Jerome Washington, of Jersey City, who was shot and killed a year ago at his Bergen - Lafayette home after family members called the Jersey City Medical Center’s psychiatric unit for a wellness check, filed a lawsuit in federal court naming the city, county, Jersey City Medical Center, RWJ Barnabas Health and 11 police officers and EMTs as defendants. It alleges use of excessive force, warrantless entry and discrimination based on disability.
“He is dead because Jersey City Police Department officers dispatched to check on Drew’s safety during a mental health episode, instead broke down his apartment door, shot him twice, and tased him. Drew, a Black man experiencing symptoms related to a mental health disability, was unjustifiably killed by the police,” the lawsuit alleged.
Washington, 52, had a history of chronic mental health issues. According to city officials, body camera footage showed that he charged with a kitchen knife when officers opened the door of his home.
Another police shooting of a man in crisis took the life last year of Najee Seabrooks , a high-risk intervention specialist with the Paterson Healing Collective, a group that works to stem the tide of violence in New Jersey’s third-largest city, after he texted friends amidst his own alleged mental health episode. He begged them to “come to me” after barricading himself inside his home, “before everyone tries to kill me.”
The shooting of Lee in July told a similar story, records show.
Police bodycam footage of the horrifying incident released last week showed that it took just 130 seconds for armed officers to arrive at The Pinnacle apartment complex on Main Street in Fort Lee around 1:25 a.m. on July 28 in response to a 911 report of the young woman’s agitated behavior, before shooting her once in the chest after breaking down her door.
Lee was in the apartment with her mother and holding a water bottle when she was shot, although there was a knife nearby, the bodycam footage shows.
Lee’s family said they called 911 to have her taken to Valley Hospital in Paramus after she began exhibiting unusual behavior, including rolling on the bed, briefly shouting, and lightly tapping her head against the wall, according to the Attorney General’s office. They said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017, but managed her mental health condition through work, travel and music.
An attorney for the family, Henry Cho, said last week that in past crises that led to calls to 911, first responders were understanding and worked with the family to de-escalate the situation and transport Lee to the hospital.
This time, there was no attempt at de-escalation, said Cho.
Experts have been sharply critical of the response of the Fort Lee police and what they said were critical errors in judgment that raised major questions about the training of the officers and their strategy upon arriving at the scene.
Platkin said additional funding under New Jersey’s “ARRIVE Together program,” which he called the only statewide program for alternative responses to behavioral health crises in the country, will provide funding to support the implementation of the added directives.
That program pairs a plainclothes police officer trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation –with a certified mental health specialist to respond to 911 calls involving people having behavioral health issues.
Those funds will be available to agencies in all counties through the Office of Alternative and Community Responses .
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