NAMI decries shooting, prosecutor's ruling
SANDPOINT — NAMI Far North sees the shooting of Jeanetta Riley this summer as the symptom of a greater problem.
The nonprofit, a branch of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill advocacy organization, released a statement Wednesday calling the incident a tragedy and a symptom of inadequate mental health care in Bonner County. NAMI Far North leaders also emphasized the importance of crisis intervention training, which equips officers with the skills needed to save lives of individuals in the midst of a mental health crisis.
“The board of directors, on behalf of all its members, decries the fatal shooting of Jeanetta Riley by Sandpoint Police Department officers on July 8, 2014, and the recent conclusion of the Kootenai County Prosecutor that the action of the officers was ‘justified,’” the NAMI statement reads. “We extend to the victim’s family our most heartfelt sympathy.”
For NAMI Far North supporters, the fatal shooting is even more tragic given the work to provide officers with crisis intervention training. For the past several years, NAMI Far North has worked with the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office and Sandpoint Police Department to offer training free of charge.
The only cost of crisis intervention training to the departments is the 40 work hours officers spend completing the course, NAMI Far North President Amber Snoddy said. To date, the collaboration has trained 135 North Idaho individuals over six CIT academies.
NAMI Far North’s crisis intervention training program was pioneered in Memphis, Tenn., during the 1980s following a swath of mental health-related shootings. The program emphasizes de-escalation techniques designed to defuse dangerous psychiatric crises, ultimately connecting the mentally ill individual with the help he or she needs.
“It’s very important that people in crisis receive the respectful care,” Snoddy said.
According to Snoddy, NAMI personnel didn’t find records of officers Skylar Ziegler or Michael Valenzuela, the officers involved in the shooting, participating in CIT academies. It remains an open question whether CIT classes would have made a difference in the outcome.
Other Sandpoint police officers, on the other hand, have graduated from CIT training. In fact, Officer Theresa Heberer was NAMI Far North’s 2014 officer of the year for her role in de-escalating a mental health crisis and helping the woman secure psychiatric treatment. Snoddy said Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon has also been active in supporting CIT academies and attending NAMI Far North meetings.
NAMI supporters see CIT academies as an important but still-inadequate response to national mental health problems.
According to the nonprofit, one in four American families have a relative with a mental illness. And with mental health commonly stigmatized throughout the country, dangerous misconceptions keep people from securing the care they need.
“We are all responsible,” the nonprofit’s statement reads. “We must insist on improved access to mental health services in our community and provision of appropriate crisis response facilities and personnel.”