Reimagining Berkeley ~ Care or Cops?
Vincent Bryant’s jaw was shattered by a bullet shot at point blank range by a Berkeley police officer on the night of Saturday, January 2nd. Mr. Bryant was like many other community members who wander the streets of Berkeley with no permanent place to live and a diagnosis of mental illness.
That night, Mr. Bryant was hungry. He took some food from the downtown Walgreens and left $1 and a returned item as payment. Apparently, the store security guard or employees often generously cover the cost of food that unhoused folks want to purchase when they don’t have enough cash. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened with Mr. Bryant.
The police were called. According to police radio dispatch, three police cars were summoned to find a “Black male, late 50’s, 6-feet tall 195 pounds wearing a grey sweatshirt and black sweatpants with a 6-foot long chain”, which was actually a bicycle chain. The dispatcher mentioned that the reporting party thought it was a 5150 (police code when someone is mentally unstable and may be a harm to themselves or someone else). Studies show that the standard police approach to people suffering from mental illness tends to escalate and destabilize them even further, which often results in higher incidence of violence.
What’s the alternative? Berkeley residents have been advocating for eight years for a 24/7 crisis unit that provides a non-police emergency response to mental illness and substance abuse calls. On January 2nd, the police responded.
We are witnessing a systemic criminalization of mental illness where police are the frontline responders and enforcers. As of 2011, over 60% of people experiencing mental illness had no access to mental health care.* An even more alarming statistic is that 83% of people with mental illness in jails do not have access to mental health care.* This, coupled with the lack of access to adequate housing and a steady income, prevents these people from seeking mental health services, even if they want to, and results in a revolving door of arrests and short term incarceration.
Berkeley, finally following Oakland and San Francisco, is in the planning stages of creating a Specialized Care Unit (“SCU”) to respond to crises involving mental illness and substance abuse with non-police specialists. The city is also launching its Reimagining Public Safety process this month.
Will the SCU serve the needs of Berkeley’s unhoused and mentally ill? Will the Reimagining process result in a decrease in police violence? Will it create a city where Black, unhoused and mental health challenged people feel safe?
Not without active engagement from Berkeley residents. And not without the City Council and City Manager heeding public input and ceasing their behind closed doors decision making that serves only the interests of the status quo.
You can make a difference, and there are a number of simple ways to get involved:
- Call/email your Council Member with your demands.
- Make a public comment at City Council meetings ~ bit.ly/BerkeleyCityCouncilMeetings.
Let’s create the Berkeley we want…TOGETHER!
*statistics according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness
Elana Auerbach and Negeene Mosaed are co-editors of Reimagining Berkeley in the Berkeley Times where this was first published on February 4, 2021. Together, we want to utilize this extraordinary moment in American history to reimagine and create a genuine community where more than just the 10% and a single race flourishes.
