Feds to probe if Oklahoma discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities
The U.S. Department of Justice will investigate whether the state of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City Police Department discriminate against adults with behavioral health disabilities.
The Justice Department made the announcement Thursday of what could be a sweeping probe into the state’s mental health system as well as law enforcement in Oklahoma County.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the investigation will focus on three main issues, including whether the state violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by relying on institutionalizing people with behavioral health disabilities when they could instead receive care in the community.
The investigation also will probe whether Oklahoma City violates the ADA in how it responds to 911 calls about people with behavioral health disabilities. Additionally, it will determine whether Oklahoma City police comply with the ADA when they interact with someone having a mental health crisis.
Richard Fairchild executed for murder of Adam Broomhall in Oklahoma
Spokespeople for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the city of Oklahoma City didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Oklahoma City police said in a statement that the department learned of the investigation Thursday morning but hadn’t been informed of the details of the investigation.
Chief Wade Gourley said the department plans to cooperate with the Justice Department in its investigation and toward a goal of “providing the safest and most effective ways of responding to these types of calls.”
Mark Nelson, president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police, said Oklahoma City officers handle mental-health calls daily with the “utmost professionalism.”
include an additional $87,000 for a licensed professional counselor and $54,000 to incentivize more police officers to become part of a Crisis Intervention Team as part of the city’s annual budget.
Additionally, City Manager Craig Freeman previously has said the city had set aside about $2.4 million so far to implement report recommendations and that his office was working with the consultant to develop an implementation timeline he hoped could be released this year.
‘Let’s keep this energy’: With elections past, new Oklahoma lawmakers look to next session
“We aren’t really changing anything,” said Hamon, who said she would like to see the city’s management push its staff harder to implement the changes the consultant recommends.
“We have had recommendations (from the consultant) for more than a year that we could have been prioritizing and more aggressively implementing,” Hamon said. “While we actually have some money set aside to do some, I just don’t think we have had a collective will at the council to say this is a priority and something we need to systemically do.”
People with information that could pertain to the investigation can contact the Justice Department at MentalHealth.Oklahoma@usdoj.gov or go to civilrights.justice.gov.