WEBVTT

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- [Narrator] Marcus-David Peters was 24

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when he was killed by police
in Richmond, Virginia.

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An officer shot him twice

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while he was experiencing
a mental health crisis.

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As calls to defund and
abolish America's police

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grow louder and louder,

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many mental health experts and advocates

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are also weighing in.

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Specifically, they're demanding

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that police no longer
be the first responders

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for dealing with any sort
of mental health crises.

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This concern is a lot more
urgent than you may think.

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Folks with mental health challenges

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are 16 times more likely to
be killed by law enforcement.

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It's also why choosing
not to call the police

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during mental health emergencies

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isn't a decision Black
people take lightly,

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because of the roughly 1,000 people

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killed by police in 2018,

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at least 25% of them experienced
mental health challenges.

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After thousands of people
with mental health concerns

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were moved out of institutions,

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like hospitals and asylums in the 1950s,

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it was during the 1960s

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police started to become
the first point of contact

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for people dealing with
mental health crises.

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And by the early 1980s,

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federal spending for
mental health resources

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in the U.S. was slashed.

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Just a few years later in 1988,

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the Memphis Police Department

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established the first Crisis
Intervention Team program

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in order to respond to
mental crisis events.

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And though there are CIT
programs in 45 of the 50 States,

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there's not a whole lot of data

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to prove they're even effective.

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A 2015 survey by the Police
Executive Research Forum

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found that on average,

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new officer recruits receive eight hours

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of crisis intervention training.

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For context, those same trainees

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receive almost 60 hours
of firearms training.

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According to the National
Alliance on Mental Illness,

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40% of adults who deal
with mental health concerns

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will come into contact with
the criminal justice system

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during their lifetimes.

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In fact, 20% of people in jails

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and 15% of State prisons populations

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are categorized as having
"a serious mental illness."

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That's over 350,000 people.

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So when a racist mass incarceration system

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meets false stereotypes

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about violent people with
mental health challenges,

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and an inadequate holistic
health care system,

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Black people are left
especially vulnerable.

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- What you have is a phenomena

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whereby black men who
are seen on the street

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as perhaps being disruptive in some way,

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tend to get taken to the station house.

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They tend to get arrested.

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They tend to get booked and
they tend to get detained.

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And at the other end of that spectrum,

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white women who are disruptive on streets

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will tend, this is obviously not 100%, 0%,

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but they'll tend to get taken
into the mental health system,

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perhaps to psychiatric emergency rooms

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or to other kinds of
mental health facilities.

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And, you know, there's a spectrum here

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so that perhaps Black women
will fit in a different place

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on that spectrum.

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White men will fit in a
different space on that spectrum.

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So this is gendered and it's
also connected up to race.

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And in jail, there's
not going to be anything

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resembling a decent mental health system.

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And if you become at all
physically aggressive

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under the extraordinary
stresses of a prison,

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then you are gonna be seen
as even more of a problem.

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You might be put into harsher conditions

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'cause the whole system
is set up to be punitive.

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The prison guards are probably
even less well educated

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than the cops on the street
when it comes to these issues.

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You're going to be at high
risk of being brutalized

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by the prison guards and perhaps
by your fellow prisoners.

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You're not going to get anything

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resembling decent psychiatric care.

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By the time the system spits
you out onto the street,

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it is going to probably put you

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in even worse condition psychologically

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through this repeated trauma

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for the duration of your incarceration.

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- [Narrator] Across the U.S.,

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there have been efforts made

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so that police aren't dispatched

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for mental health emergencies.

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And they're working.

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Like in Eugene, Oregon

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where community-based first responders

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of crisis workers and medics

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have attended to public safety calls,

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including mental health
crises for over 30 years.

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And in 2019 alone, they
received 24,000 calls.

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Albuquerque, New Mexico plans
to create a new department

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designed to handle homelessness,

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addiction, and mental health calls.

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Similar alternatives in Los
Angeles and San Francisco

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are also working towards
policing alternatives.

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- Having the capability to deploy

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folks trained in street mental
health on an emergency basis,

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as well as to deploy them

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on a non-emergency basis, is critical.

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And if 911 workers could make a judgment

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as to which kind of expertise is required

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rather than always sending a cop,

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or almost always sending a cop,

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that would be a huge step forward.

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I'm actually pretty optimistic

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we could be at a kind of
once in 50 year moment

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of surging forward when it
comes to what needs to be done.

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- [Narrator] The time for change is now.

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The defund the police movement

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is calling for divestment
from massive police budgets

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and a reallocation of financial resources

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back into communities.

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It's crucial that we pour into underfunded

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and necessary social programs,

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like those that prioritize mental health,

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education, and housing.

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The American policing and
healthcare systems are broken.

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And that fact is incredibly evident

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in how mental health emergencies

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are handled in this country.

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Because no one should die or go to jail

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when all they really need is some support.

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(soft music)