OLYMPIA — Legislation to require police officers to receive training on dealing with mentally ill people, called crisis intervention training, was introduced last week by Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge, and Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo.

“This could save lives,” said Appleton, sponsor of House Bill 1348. “It’s hard for the untrained person to spot mental illness, and police are rightly trained to react instinctively to threats to the public or to themselves. We want to give them new tools to avoid tragedies like the one involving Doug Ostling. No one wants to have other grief-stricken families or traumatized, heartbroken officers.”

Doug Ostling, a Bainbridge Island man who suffered from mental illness, was shot and killed in 2010 by Bainbridge police officers in his home. Proponents of this legislation say those officers had not been trained in crisis intervention.

If passed, police officers would receive eight hours of initial crisis intervention training with two additional hours incorporated into existing online yearly training. Although it used to be common in police departments, recession-era cuts eliminated this training in police departments across Washington.

“This training has been reinstated in Kitsap County and has proved to be very successful,” said Rolfes, sponsor of Senate Bill 5311. “It is also a valuable part of the Legislature’s broader effort to make improvements and increase funding to programs that not only help individuals suffering from mental illness, but provide some support to their families who want the best for them.”

In recent years, law enforcement officers have experienced a marked increase in confrontations with mentally ill individuals. This training helps officers identify and de-escalate situations where someone may be behaving erratically, but are not necessarily a threat.

Ostling’s parents and aunt testified at the House and Senate hearings, relaying the events of the evening he was shot and killed by police officers in a moment of distress.

“By passing this bill, you are opening up one little window of hope for a person that might be able to get treated,” said William Ostling, Doug’s father. “We tried to introduce this law a couple of years ago, but it did not pass. We have to make this mandatory.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 1 in 17 Americans suffers from severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Bipolar Disorder. Kitsap Mental Health Services alone treats about 5,000 people each year.

ONLINE:
— Public testimony on the House bill.
— Public testimony on the Senate bill.