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The Miami Herald

February 12, 2003

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.


EDITORIAL
Reform the Baker Act: Give Judges, Counselors More Leeway

Not all encounters between police and mentally ill individuals who pose a threat end tragically. In Florida, law enforcers now initiate more Baker Act cases than anyone else. It is a way to deal nonviolently with these volatile situations. But should police be the ones to determine who should be committed? A flawed law says Yes.

Right now, a mentally ill person must show explicit signs of being a danger to himself or others before he can be ''Baker Act-ed,'' that is, held involuntarily for a brief period of time for psychiatric evaluation.

But once the person is stabilized, often he no longer is deemed to be a danger -- though he still needs treatment. He is released with no plans for treatment follow-up. That's the law. If a family member later sees signs of instability, a mental-health professional can do nothing if the person does not pose a threat. Once the person becomes a danger, though, the family is told to call police.

Between 1997 and 2000, there was a 3,000-percent increase in the number of counties in which police initiated almost all Baker Act cases; in 2000, officers handled 34 percent more Baker Act cases than they made DUI arrests -- 80,869 vs. 60,337. In 2001, police handled 43 percent of the 91,000 involuntary commitments. Even as violent crime fell, Baker Act cases increased 17 percent.

Clearly, the burden has shifted to the wrong place. Mental-health professionals should be responsible for getting mentally disturbed people treatment before they reach a violent crisis. But the system saps their effectiveness: It leaves them few options to get treatment for people in their care; it makes police jail people who, instead, need treatment; and it forces judges to send defendants to a state mental hospital or to release them into the community.

The Florida Sheriffs Association and other groups want the Legislature to modify the state's 30-year-old Baker Act, making it easier to get treatment for people suffering from illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia before they become dangerous. The well-targeted proposal focuses on a small group of the mentally ill -- about 7,500 -- who already are cycling in and out of the system, at great expense to state taxpayers, but getting little help.
The proposal could break that ineffective cycle: If a person has been a Baker Act case at least twice in the previous 36 months, a mental-health case worker could order a psychiatric evaluation at the first sign of mental deterioration -- or call police to make a recalcitrant person get one.

Should that person end up in court, a judge could order ''assisted outpatient treatment'' or community-based care. That person would be under court order to follow a treatment regimen. Studies have shown that when an authority figure such as a judge orders treatment, the individual tends to follow through.

In communities that take this approach, a Duke University study found, mentally ill defendants had 74 percent fewer arrests and 36 percent fewer violent incidents. Equally important, they received needed treatment, and police were free to pursue other cases.

Lawmakers should update the Baker Act legislation in this coming session. It is a humane and sensible response that supports better protection of the public's safety.

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