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At 3:45 a.m. somewhere in New York City, police are called to someone’s home after complaints that John Doe is creating a disturbance. Neighbors complain that Mr. Doe is playing loud music, screaming at the top of his lungs and repetitively banging his head against the wall. Police show up and ask Mr. Doe to please “stop” what he is doing. Mr. Doe does not respond. Shortly after, a struggle ensues between Mr. Doe and the police. Police handcuff Mr. Doe and he is taken downtown to a holding cell until he can be processed and charged with disorderly conduct.

The late Dr. James Fyfe, former director of training for the New York City Police Department (NYPD), said that the NYPD responds to calls involving persons with mental illness every 6.5 minutes. According to Linda A. Teplin’s article Keeping the Peace: Police Discretion and Mentally Ill Persons from the July 2000 National Institute of Justice Journal, during street encounters, police officers are almost twice as likely to arrest someone who appears to have a mental illness. Once arrested, people are placed in holding cells where they are left for hours or days without treatment. In the meantime the illness continues to further debilitate the persons. The end result is negative.

In response to this, a local grassroots, direct action organization is fighting for change. Since its inception RIPPD, Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities, has stood for social justice and has been fighting for the rights of this marginalized population. We feel that discrimination and harsh treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities needs to be stopped before people enter the criminal justice system. On-site diversion refers to programs that divert individuals with psychiatric disabilities from becoming involved with the criminal justice system and instead to provide linkages to community-based treatment and support services.

We at RIPPD feel it is necessary implement pre-booking diversion programs in all police precincts to ensure that individuals with psychiatric disabilities are identified by police and diverted to necessary treatments instead of sent to jail. This diversion should occur at the first point of contact between those with a psychiatric disability and the police. In order for this program to be successful there will need to be a collaborative effort on the part of law enforcement agencies, community-based treatment providers and consumers.

With successful implementation, RIPPD hopes to diminish the rising number of imprisoned people with psychiatric disabilities and instead ensure with the help of police, service providers and the community at large that people with psychiatric disabilities receive proper treatment.