City Officials Announce New Police Policies on Mental Health Crisis Thursday

City leaders are releasing proposed new guidelines for police interactions with people in mental health crisis, tomorrow afternoon at City Hall.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after an officer shot and killed a homeless, mentally ill man armed with an X-acto knife. In January Portland Police shot and killed an unarmed, suicidal man who was in the process of giving himself up.
Shannon Callahan of Commissioner Dan Saltzman's office told The Skanner News that Saltzman, Commissioner Amanda Fritz, and Chief Rosie Sizer have met several times over the past weeks with Multnomah County law enforcement and mental health officials to draft the new recommendations.
"There's been a lot of talk about issues around mental health and law enforcement," Callahan said.
"I'm not an expert on mental health, but there's nobody who feels like there's an adequate mental health system right now."
She said the city leaders had met with CEOs of every mental health provider in the county as part of the process.
The new recommendations are released Thursday, April 8 at 2:30 p.m. in the Portland City Hall Lovejoy Room, 2nd Floor.