MENTAL HEALTH CUTS TO BLAME FOR CRIME

Your newspaper carried the story about increased crime rates in Greenville.
The comments of Chief of Police Simonowich did not place the blame where it
belongs. I am surprised that everyone else is surprised. This was wholly
and sadly predictable.

Two years ago, Pitt County Mental Health began a series of layoffs and
closed its satellite clinics. There is a substantial waiting period to get
a new client in for an assessment let alone begin treatment for either a
psychiatric or a substance abuse problem. When I asked Debby Dihof, the
current director, whether any of the clients who used the satellite clinics
were showing up at Government Park, she responded, "No, none of them."

These people have nowhere to go in order to find help. That leaves two
places for them to go: the emergency room or jail. Now we learn that
crimes, mostly crimes against property, are up some 28 percent in Pitt County.

If the cocaine and heroin addicts are not in treatment, then they are going
to be out there trying to support their habits as best they can.

Why is anyone surprised? Two years ago I told Dr. Nick Benson, head of the
Emergency Department at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, that he should start
keeping records because his department and jail were going to be seeing an
increase in business.

How much money have the taxpayers lost in the costs of the legal, penal and
health systems, in addition to the criminal activities, by saving a little
money at Pitt County Mental Health?

How much more will be lost and how much more misery will we suffer until we
make an adequate investment in mental health and substance abuse services?

And who gets the blame for this? The blame belongs with the Pitt County
commissioners.

Brian A. Mcmillen
PH.D., Professor
Brody School of Medicine