Mayor Tom Potter responded in writing on Monday, November 5,
to a list of 28 “unanswered questions” given to his communications
director outside city hall on the one-year anniversary of the death of
James Philip Chasse Jr. two months ago.
The questions, collated by the Mental Health Association of Portland
(MHA) and delivered on September 17, were broad in their
scope—ranging from asking what recommendations have been
implemented by the mayor’s mental health initiative since it started
work in January, to how Portlanders can explain Chasse’s death to their
children.
Potter began his four-page response by declining to discuss the
actions of individual officers or parties to the lawsuit filed by
Chasse’s family, which is still ongoing. Then he listed 11 “important
actions” resulting from his mental health initiative.
Those include $290,000 of extra funding for Cascadia’s Project
Respond, to create a dedicated unit to work with cops on calls
involving mental illness; mandatory crisis intervention training for
all cops coordinated by a mental health professional—Potter said
around 25 percent of officers have now completed the training; and the
expansion of a Voluntary Substance Abuse Treatment program to help
those with dual diagnosis into long-term housing and treatment.
“When you ask who is responsible and how do we hold them
accountable, I look at society as being responsible for not funding
proper mental health services,” Potter wrote. “And instead, leaving it
to police officers to respond.”
“We’re pretty happy with the letter,” says Jason Renaud of MHA, who
thinks Potter is taking his organization’s concerns seriously. “I’m
glad he took the time to write it and list the city’s accomplishments,
and that he didn’t blow us off.”
Nevertheless, Potter’s letter included five measures beyond his
jurisdiction—instead, they’re up to the cash-strapped folks at
Multnomah County. They include mental health screening for people being
booked into jail, expansion of the so-called “Treatment Not Punishment”
program, a court advocate program for those with mental illness, and
most controversially, the establishment of a crisis triage center with
16 beds.
Last week, the Mercury reported that Multnomah County Chair
Ted Wheeler appears to be letting the crisis triage center slip down
his list of funding priorities [“Less Than a Crisis?” News, Nov 1].
While Wheeler denies this is the case, he told the Mercury he
may not be able to secure funding for it until 2010, or November 2008
at the very earliest.
As a result, the MHA wrote to Wheeler last Thursday, November 1,
asking him to speak at a public meeting about mental illness, in a
question-and-answer format, to address some unanswered questions of his
own. Wheeler has yet to respond and could not be reached by the
Mercury for comment by press time.