New Jersey Shooting Raises Questions About Police Response to Mentally Ill
The killing of Waskiewicz, who was armed with a knife and suffering from a mental health crisis, exemplifies the limited training of police as well as the lack of resources needed to avoid these encounters.
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The fatal shooting of Lee Waskiewicz, a 47-year-old New Jersey man who, while in the midst of a mental health crisis, confronted two police officers with a knife, has prompted conversations and questions about best practices in such situations and the challenges officers often face when serving as the first, and oftentimes only, responders during mental health emergencies, reports NewJersey.com. Despite some training that sets protocols for reacting to knives, officers’ response decisions have always depended on circumstances such as distance between the knife and the officers, the nature of their surroundings and the nature of the individual with the weapon. Much of the methodology around officer response to potentially violent situations is rooted in “the 21-foot rule,” a popular teaching that says that a knife wielded within 21 feet of an officer is a serious threat.
However, experts have begun rethinking whether officers should leave more room for nuance, advising officers to instead retreat while containing and isolating the individual, perhaps closing a door or escorting others away from the standoff. In the Waskiewicz shooting, experts also say that the series of decisions that led to the Bayonne cops being in a tight space with an individual who then drew a knife can also be examined. In addition, police officers’ roles in mental health calls is an ongoing topic of debate and reform nationally, as the tendency to call 911 to assist when someone is emotionally disturbed is a result of a government that has more heavily funded policing than mental health services while the training police receive for dealing with such situations remains limited. Nearly a quarter of the individuals in the Washington Post’s fatal force database were described as experiencing mental illness.
