Novelist Joseph Heller’s unsolvable situation, commonly known as a Catch 22, aptly describes the situation the City of Cleveland finds itself in as it supposedly is attempting to fix its broken police department. The catch is, how do you fix something that no one at City Hall will admit is broken?
Take the case of Tanisha Anderson, the mentally ill woman that died as police were restraining her on the sidewalk in front of her family’s home. The police had been called (usually a bad decision, as it turned out to be in this case) because Anderson was having psychotic episode. One set of officers came to the home, quieted things down, and left. Later another call was made and a second set of cops showed up, and it wasn’t long before Tanisha Anderson was dead.
Accounts of what transpired once the cops showed up vary, according to who is relating their version of the facts. And this is where the problem starts for the city, if indeed there really is a sincere desire to change how policing is done in Cleveland.
According to Anderson’s family members, she got agitated after being placed in the rear seat of the patrol car since it was agreed that she needed to be taken to a hospital for an evaluation; however — and this is somewhat typical of persons with mental health issues — she panicked from being confined in the patrol car and got out of the vehicle and struggled with the cops, who allegedly took her down to the pavement in a violent manner, placed a knee in her back, after which she dies.
Of course the cops tell a different version of events, basically one that absolves them (and the city, you must keep that fact in mind) of any wrongdoing. If they admitted to making mistakes that resulted in the death of a citizen they — and the city — could (and probably would) be held both criminally and civilly liable. So they have a built-in incentive to “sell” the public their version of the events in the Anderson case, as well as others. This is one of the critical flaws in the system nationwide, and one that argues against any kind of reform.
However, if changes are to be made in regards to how cops respond to citizens with mental illnesses the first step has to be an acknowledgement that indeed something is wrong with how they are currently trained to respond to such incidents. But to make such an admission might leave the city vulnerable to lawsuits … thus the Catch 22.
Which makes changes hard, but not totally impossible; legal minds simply have to come up with a system that protects all parties and interests. The problem has been, that, up to this point there has been no outcry for change, so nothing happens. That’s why it’s critically important protestors don’t let this issue die on the vine … they must keep pressing for change.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.