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honor. for the record, my name is nick wilcox, i live in penn valley in california here with my wife amanda who because of the crowded conditions is in the overflow room, she's also put in a speaker card and would like to reserve the right to speak at the end if she deems that necessary. i would like to thank supervisor farrell and mayor lee for your steadfast support of laura's law. as supervisor farrell said, amanda and i are the parents of laura wilcox, laura when she was 19 in 2001 died in a rampage shooting while she was trying to help people with severe mental illness. she was working at the behavioral mental health clinic, i man named scott thorpe came in and shot her pointblank 4 times and she died instantly. since that time we have come to realize, actually we came to realize rather early on in the process, that there are significant gaps in the mental health services system. we became involved with assembly mental helen thompson in ab 1421 which was eventually signed by the governor and is now known as laura's law. specifically we realized that there was a gap in the continuum of mental health services, specifically, as dr. leery pointed out, there are many individuals have severe mental illness who, because of their condition, are unable to recognize their condition. in other words, they do not realize that they are mentally ill. am i --. >> no, please keep going. >> okay, i will attempt to be a little quicker. there are people who suffer from anasdiagnosia, the inability to recognize their condition and therefore will not seek services voluntarily. and it is this population laura's law is attempting to address by using a court order to get people into assisted outpatient treatment. curiously, as dr. leery also pointed out, there are very few requirements in laura's law as to forcing medication and enforcing people to engage in treatment. laura's law actually works because it relies on what's called the black robe effect. people, most people, are law-abiding and when faced with a court order will tend to engage in treatment. laura's law has been implemented fully in nevada county since the year 2008 and i would like just to run down some of the results that we have seen in nevada county and they have been stunningly successful. of those who are faced with court orders, actually over 50 percent engage in treatment voluntarily through an iterative judge. the judge works with them, they get somewhat better, they engage in a higher level of treatment and get even better so there's a feedback loop with the judge to help people get well. in nevada county since 2008 we have experienced many fewer days of rehospitalization. rehospitalization has gone down 64 percent. there has been a decline in incarceration of the people who are involved, that's gone down 27 percent. there are much higher employment rates, there is a decline in homelessness among this population, that's down 33 percent, and overall there is a cost savings in nevada county. for every dollar spent on assisted outpatient treatment in nevada county, we have been able to document in our county $1.81 in avoidd costs. we are very pleased that san francisco county is embarking on this project. we believe that you will have the same success that we have. i would like to thank supervisor campos for his willingness to engage in this dialogue on these --. >> point of order (inaudible) commentary. >> one more sentence and i will be finished, thank you. i would like to thank supervisor campos and we believe that the amendments that have been agreed upon are very beneficial and we believe it will make this work much better in san francisco county. thank you. >> thank you, mr. wilcox, and thank you for all your leadership on this issue. mr. halloran. >> good morning, supervisors, thank you for your time. my name is martin halloran, i am the president of the san francisco police officer association. as police officers of san francisco we have a duty and responsibility to protect all the residents of this city. our duties often require us to respond to medical needs including those who are homeless and those who may be suffering from untreatmented mental illness. for many of these individuals it is not the first time that they have had contact with the san francisco police officer. in fact, many of them are not only victims of their own mental illness but they are also victims of the revolving door cycle here in the city with repeated transfers in and out of san francisco general hospital or in and out of the county jail. this cycle is not only detrimental to those individuals who are suffering from mental illness, but it also diverts vital police resources. the poa strongly supports the implementation of laura's law because the services provided once this is implemented it will see greater community policing that this department is committed to and it will allow us more tools in the toolbox, that's been said a couple times already, to provide services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. we support the implementation of laura's law, we thank supervisor farrell for carrying it, we recommend the committee forward this to the full board. it has proven successful, as the previous speaker mentioned, it has proved successful in nevada county. it has also proved successful in los angeles county, we believe it will reduce violence here in our county. thank you for your time. >> good morning, supervisors, my name is tom o'connor, i am president of the local san francisco fire fighters local 778 and i am speaking here today to express our full support for the implementation of laura's law. as fire fighters in san francisco we have a duty and responsibility to protect our duties from fire and other emergencies but our duties also require us to respond to the medical needs of others, both homeless and other individuals. for some of these individuals when our ambulances assist them, it is not the first time. we see them day in and day out. we get to know them by their first name, we see what street corners they hang out on and too many times watch them slowly decline in health and self-respect. it's almost as if you are watching them commit suicide slowly because they can't get into a facility that can help them out. this cycle that i speak of is not only a detriment to the resources of the department but more importantly a detriment to the individuals we are watching slowly fall into greater and grader disrepair. our union supports the implementation of laura's law because these services free up the resources of the fire department but also will help provide a community based individualized treatment that is needed by these individuals and mental illness is a very serious topic and many of us wouldn't, we wouldn't go past an injured animal without reaching out to help them and too often many of us are going past injured human beings without reaching out to help them and if they can't help themselves, it is incumbent upon us to help them get the care they need. so local 798 supports laura's law implementation and urge you to bring it before the full board. >> before the next speaker our district attorney has arrived so i want to give him the microphone. >> thank you, good morning, committee members. i want to say i am in support and our office is in support of this legislation. no. 1, i think we are talking about human treatment of people that need different level of services and i think what we have done for too long is that we have incarcerated, we have dealt with people that really need medical support, we have dealt with them through the criminal justice system. and i believe that it is now the preferable way. so for that reason we support it. but i think there are also many other reasons. in addition to the human part of it, i think there are economic reasons that make sense as well. i think that we can treat this population in a much more thoughtful, much more economical way, by having the ability to provide treatment when we can. i believe you heard other speakers already talking about the success of this thing in other counties and we believe the science around this legislation supports this. i think it's also important to recognize it's just another tool and i know people talked about a tool in the box so i will take the box out of my comment, but it's just another tool. it's not going to cover all the problems but it's certainly another piece of a puzzle in order for us to deliver human as much ass to a population that needs it sorely. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. gascon, thank you for being here. next speaker, please come on up. ketara salani, bob bennett and sheila ganz >> hello, my name is steven jaffey, i am a lawyer here in san francisco, tomorrow is the 43rd anniversary of me being sworn in. i am also the father of a consumer for almost 20 years of mental health services. you are going to hear a lot of thought about beliefs and opinions. i would like to stick to what are undisputed facts and i'm going to make two points because i know my time is very short. you are going to hear laura's law criminalizes mental illness. that is false. there is nothing in laura's law with any tinge of any criminalization of any conduct. it is no more criminal than our conservatorship laws. you don't here people with dementia or their families arguing alzheimer's or dementia is criminalized because the courts get involved in creating or enforcing conservatorships. laura's law is no different. it operates the same way. the second point i want to make, and this has to do with civil rights versus medical necessity, you are going to hear mentally ill people have a right to refuse treatment and medication. competent people have a right to refuse it. you heard a big word thrown around here, anasdiagnosia in order to refuse treatment you have to be competent to do it and the people we are seeking to help with laura's law are not competent to refuse treatment because they don't know they are sick or they don't how sick they are. so obviously i could talk for days on this, if you have any questions i'd be glad to answer any. >> thank you very much. thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning, honorable supervisors, i am a member of the veteran's coalition. please recommend the board to vote to implement laura's law and don't leave our veterans to suffer and die on the streets. please place a veteran on your team. they speak their own language. there will be 100,000 fewer female and male soldiers on active duty before the end of this year as afghanistan winds down. the department of veterans affairs scheduling scandal clearly shows that it is not ready for the return of treatment-resistant, treatment noncompliant female and male service members who are trained to be violent like me. the united states department of justice approved assistant outpatient treatment, laura's law, as an effective and efficient hospitalization reduction program in march of 2012 and that is another fact that cannot be ignored. too many california public mental health officials, however, continue to throw money down so-called mental health wellness rat holes which rely on the brutality of the treats to modify the behavior of people living with mental illness who are insight deficient that results in increased recidivism that is immoral and deadly for mental aelt persons like 34-year-old arrol chong while we have the opportunity to do the right thing and care for those who have unselfishly serve our nation and need our help now. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors, john baisceros, san francisco travel association bt and here in support of this measure that would fully implement laura's law in the city and county of san francisco. we hear from our visitors that encountering individuals suffering from untreated mental health is often their most disturbing aspect of their visit here in san francisco and many ask why isn't the city doing more to help those individuals most in need here in san francisco. i think we all can agree that san francisco can do more to help residents facing acute mental health issues. these individuals deserve a better and more human solution than a life on the streets. the measure before you today offers a compassionate and caring approach that provides families with an avenue for securing help for their loved ones facing mental health issues until they can care for themselves. so we encourage, we appreciate the leadership of supervisor farrell and the leadership of supervisor campos in finding a way to move forward and we encourage this committee to favorably recommend the measure to the full board. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> hello, my name is dale milfe and i think you all know me. i consider laura's law a right to treatment for those who meet its very stringent criteria and i have been advocating for this since 2003, before any of you were active in politics. to those opposed, before voting no, please read the entire legislation so that you can at least make an informed decision. if you read it you will see all of the civil rights protections built into the law and understand that it will take nothing away from anyone capable of assessing voluntary services. it may be now too late for my own son. for the past 20 years he has been failed by the system. he suffers from severe and persistent scizo effective disorder. he is not getting effective care, his needs are nurse stabilized and is costing a fortune. he has cost medicare over $40,000 between april 3rd of this year and today and close to one million in total. he has accepted voluntary treatment but has never been able to consistently adhere to a treatment plan. i believe laura's law might have helped him regain some quality of life. he now has stage 4 mental illness. his brain has suffered 79 acute instances of psychosis. he has repeatedly either run away or been refused admission. so i have been called hysterical and angry and yes, i am, my son has been denied the right to get better care and i don't want this to happen to anyone else and i want you to vote for implementation of laura's law. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> good morning, board of supervisors, my name is katera timplan and i thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning. i know that emotions are high on both sides. and we all care deeply so i think that's something that we're all on the same page of. and we all agree on improving access and increasing opportunities to care for individuals. i think what this boils down to, the controversy that we all need to be fully aware of, is that laura's law, ab 1421, is about loosening the criteria of committing someone into treatment. right now under our current law for lps, you have be gravely disabled or a danger to self or others. that's when we invoke taking your rights away to force you into treatment. so you have to be gravely disabled. so any stories, horrible stories we're hearing, when it sounds like someone is gravely disabled, we have a current law that commits them into treatment. if they are a danger to self or others, the current law commits them to treatment and in fact that goes into the community also like the community conservatorship program. the current issue is that we are discussing loosening up the criteria of when we take someone's rights away and basing it on past history and problemistic pessimism, that someone says that someone will be, another person will relapse in the future and if i can read just one quote from the jeff ry swan sun, professor of psychiatry at duke university, who gets a lot of questions if they can predict violence or not and whether we should take their rights away and basically they come down to the psychiatrists and psychologists are not good at predicting violence in the future. so facing taking our rights away on a prediction of the future is a huge civil liberties issue. so i hope that we do not implement laura's law. >> thank you. next speaker please (applause). >> good morning, supervisors, my name is sheila ganz thank you so much supervisor farrell for introducing this bill, thank you supervisor campos for your amendments and supervisor tang, i live in the sunset. i am here today to strongly urge you to vote yes for laura's law, the right for treatment for severely mentally ill or assisted outpatient treatment. i am a member of nami my sister has schizophrenia and if her illness became so severe that she ended up on the street with no treatment, i would have devastated. she is a senior citizen and of small stature. i would fear great harm would come to her. i love living in san francisco. it's a beautiful city, it is enlightened in many ways. it's time to lift our city out of the dark ages when the severely mentally ill went untreated. approving laura's law which assures the right of treatment far outways in my opinion the right to live on the street, starve, possibly be attacked or murdered or do harm to others. please help the women and men on the streets of san francisco with severe mental illness by voting yes for laura's law today. >> thank you, next speaker please. >> supervisors, my name is bob bennett, i'm ceo of family service agency of san francisco and the selton institute. our agency recently won the science to service award from the national behavioral health council for our treatment, our voluntary treatment, of people with schizophrenia, many of whom are very reluctant to get into treatment. it's possible with the right services to get people into treatment, to diagnose them effectively and to remit their illness. before i was ceo of fsa i was a family member. we raised my sister-in-law's daughter, we had her diagnosed, she was diagnosed with adhd bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis nos and effective disregulation. she was prescribed antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilized, antiaxialitics, stimulants and depressants and when the doctors say, well, all she needs to do is comply with her treatment regimen and she will be fine, the answer is which treatment regimen. mental health, even though it is improving dramatically, does not have the capacity to effectively diagnose prognosis for people in order to get them into treatment. secondly there's been a lot of talk about the science behind this. the science does not support assisted outpatient treatment. and there are two components to laura's law. there is the treatment component and there is the compulsory treatment component. the only study that i know that separated those two things found that compulsion requires over 80 civil commitments to reduce one hospitalization and over 250 civil commitments to reduce one arrest. we all agree that there should be a focus on these individuals but a voluntary focus will work and not take away anybody's civil liberties. >> thank you, next speaker please. >> hello, my name is sally zinman. i am the executive director of the california peer run organization, it's a statewide organization for consumers, people who have been through the mental health system or diagnosed with mental illness. i am strongly opposed to ab 1421. you know, i am representing people who have been diagnosed with mental health issues. we are the loved ones and we are saying no to ab 1421. i think you have to listen to the people who will be directly affected by this statute. it's one of the few times that i know of or maybe the only time that the customer is not right. secondly, i am always so overwhelmed by this it's hard to talk about it, about the scapegoating of people diagnosed with mental illness for the vial nrepbs our country. we are not a risk factor. repeatedly throughout my activism, which has been 30 or 40 years, every research study keeps coming up with the same findings that mental illness alone does not increase a risk for violence. we are not a violence risk factor. also in terms of incompetence it's just not accurate and research backs it up that 50 percent of up do not know we are suffering and want help and support. that is pk, this has been propeled by those two myths. it's a matter of stigma discrimination but is so difficult to fight. as the last speaker spoke, there is an answer and the answer is committing ourselves to comprehensive voluntary services and doing the kind of outreach that would help people get into these services. every study that has been done that --. >> thank you, ma'am. we have only two minutes of public speaking per person. thank you very much. next speaker please. i have some more speaker cards. tim snarr, edwardo vega, who filled out two cards so really wants to speak here, david farillo, virginia lewis and marty english. >> good afternoon, i would like to have edwardo vega, the executive director of the mental health association, take my place and i will take his. thank you. >> thank you. sorry to see one of the supervisors gone. my job here today is to try to (inaudible) something which i think is a big source of the problem here. at the association we are a consumer advocacy organization, we do not generally oppose treatment, we don't oppose services, we work very hard to provide good services to our community. what you are seeing here today is actually something that we should all be concerned about is talking about what we need to do to improve services in our communities. the mayor's task force brought together a care advisory task force, that task force did not recommend implementing laura's law, although we did, out of our 36 recommendations, look at examining the pros and cons. put briefly, and i think mr. bennett referred to it, the problem with ab 1421 is being focused on as laura's law is not that it doesn't provide good services. the model for services is one we all would support, i think most of us in this room would support, positive engagement, the ability for families to be involved. i am also a family member. the court order process is the linchpin and the problem is regardless of the findings to the contrary about services and programs based on the laura's law format, the court order in itself has never been shown in several studies to have a positive effect on treatment. so do we want to do good things for our community? yes. do we want to waste public resources and time and energy fighting with each other about an unproven bureaucratic process to um pell people to services that are not working for them now? no, i say no, we do not need this, we've turned it back twice already in san
United-statesNevada-countyCaliforniaPenn-valleyAfghanistanVirginiaLos-angeles-countySan-francisco-countySan-franciscoNick-wilcoxBob-bennettSheila-ganz it does require the court's involvement, which for some individuals can be a traumatic thing. overall it provides crucial treatment for patients whose mental illness itself prevents them from recognizing that they in fact need treatment and will be able to benefit from it. i want to underscore that in the department of public health there are over 30,000 individuals each year who are treated in a voluntary way. the overwhelming majority of individuals who receive treatment do so in a completely voluntary way. these services that are provided by the department of public health will be accessible to this small population of individuals who are at very great risk for harm coming to them in the community. it's an effort to provide treatment that can potentially allow them to live a more satisfying and recovery-oriented life. so overall i want to emphasize that this is an important option for patients, for families and for our community and provides necessary treatment to an important group of individuals. thank you. >> thank you, dr. leery. colleagues, any questions? >> yes, question here. in regards to this concept of the intervention team or team advocacy approach, you have a psychologist, a family member and sort of an advocate. what i'm concerned about is whether or not the department of public health would have the capacity to deal with people that are not english speakers in this team approach. i mean, if there's only one team or -- i mean i know the amendments were just made, but if you could sort of imagine if this gets implemented, how will you deal with people that can't speak english. >> i would say it would be crucial for people to be able to receive services in the language that they speak. that would be an important part and is an important part of the treatment that's provided in the department of public health throughout our programs and that would be something that would need to be provided for and operationalizing this program. >> the cultural linguistic component is part of the law and will be made available as well. >> i appreciate that is part of the law, but a lot of times a lot of things are part of the law and the implementation is lacking. it's a big concern of mine because in the past when i've heard of cases where, because of the lack of available staff members, sometimes people get placed in the wrong place and in fact it's -- there's a possibility of abuse when we don't have the right staffing. >> supervisor yee, i would strongly concur with your statement that it's very important. it's something that in the department of public health we're very commited to. at san francisco general hospital we make great efforts and have been very successful at hiring staff who have cultural and linguistic capabilities that are able to serve a very diverse group of individuals seeking treatment and it is a really crucial aspect of treatment, i completely agree with you. >> thank you. >> colleagues, any further questions for dr. leery? okay, thank you very much for being here. appreciate your report. next why don't we have police chief or fire chief greg white, whichever chief, sir. >> good morning chair yee, greg sur, san francisco police department. the police department is in support of laura's law so we might be able to provide the best community-based care to some of the most vulnerable that are at such degrees of mental illness that they cannot select such care for themselves. while most people who experience mental health issues are not violent as a result of that illness, there is those with severe mental illness who have a higher propensity to exhibit violence to themselves and perhaps to others. though our city has some of the better mental health services in the country, we still need more options to adequately address those on the street that are at such degree of mental illness they can't help themselves and ofb my officers are those who make first contact. lack of service has a tendency to lead to tragic events and potential violence in the community or again to the person themselves and we see this play out almost daily in some of the horrific accounts in the news. laura's law can and will help address both of these concerns and although i believe it has, it's laden with due process and i know some of the amendments i don't disagree with add additional due process, it is something and something needs to happen. by providing court-mandated to individuals who have had a history of lack of compliance with treatment, laura's law helps provide treatment to help those who pose a potential threat not only to themselves but also to others. by treating these people, the chances of them ever becoming a threat are drastickly reduced and can be well on their way to getting better and living independently and making the choices of again those services that we have in san francisco that are very good. we work closely in the police department with the mental health community. a little bit about what the police department's doing so far to demonstrate our commitment, and i know that some of the mental health professionals we've been working with very closely at least since 2011, but it goes way back before that. we used to do or we have police crisis intervention team training from about 2001 to 2010. in 2011, since becoming police chief actually within the first 30 days we issued an order that asked officers to counter intuitively, instead of moving toward someone in crisis that was only a danger to themselves, to take a step back, create time and distance and call for crisis intervention-trained officers. since 2011 we have trained 269 officers again with help of our mental health care professional partners, which is just about 19 percent, our goal was to get to 20 and beyond. we have two additional classes planned in 2014. officers learn how to effectively interact with those in mental crisis. clues include learning verbal deescalation phrases to help the individual until we can get to the point we can communicate effectively. we've seen tremendous effect with this team and in the last three-plus years we are very proud we have not harmed a person in crisis that posed only a danger to themselves. we believe implementing laura's law can also help reduce potential crisis and acts of violence in our community, enhance public safety and again get those that are such a degree of mental illness that they can't select these services themselves to a better place. comprehensive individualized treatment plans provided under laura's law ensure those that were gooing untreated receive the necessary care they deserve and need. laura's law in some ways a preventative measure that will help treat the most vulnerable in our community so their untreated severe mental illness never has a chance to escalate into an act of violence against themselves or others. we have to do something. i talk all the time about predictable surprises, those things that after they happen they say we could see it coming. knock wood, it has been a long time since we have had such an event here in san francisco. i do not want to be that chief of police and i don't think anybody in a position of responsibility wants to say that, hey, now's the time after something's happened. the time to do something is right now. give us some more tools to work with, we will be conscientious and responsible with it and we will get those with severe mental illness the help that they need. questions? >> change you, chief. colleagues, any questions for chief sur? thank you for being here. >> good morning, chair yee, supervisor campos, supervisor farrell, joe an hayes-white, san francisco fire department. i am here to support the implementation of laura's law in san francisco in ood to provide care to some of those most vulnerable in our community. not a day goes by that our department doesn't receive a call to respond to someone experiencing a mental health situation here in our city. we respond to an average of two or three a day totaling nearly 900 a year. unfortunately it is very xlopb for our first responders to respond to a call and see the same individual we have helped in the past over and over again. it's sad for the individual who keeps continuing to fall through the cracks and not receive the treatment they need and the treatment that they deserve. it also takes its toll on our first responders who feel demoralized when they respond to calls and see the same person over and over again. our first responders do feel the pain of the individual that needs help, but they also feel the pain for the families and loved ones of the individuals who often times feel helpless themselves with lack of treatment options. the experience of my department every day in our community shows the real human cost that is tallying up without better treatment options available for the mentally ill. i believe the experience of my department in our community shows there are limited options currently available for patients family and loved ones. implementing laura's law could provide an additional treatment option that doesn't exist today. related to some safety concerns and issues surrounding public safety as first responders, first responders do have a higher rate of injury and violence committed against them. every time our department responds to a 911 call for a crisis happening in the community, our members are put at risk. that's what we sign up for. there's a risk in trying to provide care for an individual in crisis and also in trying to deescalate the situation and hopefully it doesn't get to a violent stage but we have experienced that in our streets. it's my belief by implementing laura's law here in san francisco we can help prevent more crises in our community and in doing so it would decrease the risks my department faces daily while responding to these calls in our community. we know this is a somewhat controversial discussion, but we feel very strongly that the priority of our city first and for matter of fact should be humane care for the individuals that need care, but that laura's law, not a panacea to the mental health issues we have going on in the city, but is another tool in the toolbox for dph to use when they are dealing with people with severe mental illness. by passing laura's law we can make our department potentially more efficient and prevent crises before they occur. by providing the proper community-based outpatient treatment these individuals need and sdief to put them on a path to successful recovery. i urge the committee and the full board to support supervisor farrell's legislation and implement laura's law to provide another treatment option for those with severe mental illness. thank you very much. >> thank you, chief hayes-white. thank you for being here. i actually have two city staff members that i received speaker cards for. loni from the mayor's office and barbara carlson from the san francisco office of early care and intervention, then we will open up to public comment and i thank you for everyone's speaker cards. if there are any more please feel free to send them up. >> good morning, thanks for having me. my name is loni kent, i am the senior policy advisor for health to mayor ed lee. this past spring the mayor launched a care task force which many of the folks in this room and i know you guys know a little bit about where we wanted to look at some of the very issues that assisted outpatient treatment looks at. i'm going to share a little bit of the data that we used to guide this conversation. in the past year alone san francisco jails served almost 800 inmates diagnosed with psychotic bipolar or major depressive conditions. we also regularly have 750 people conserved because their disease has progressed to that of a grave disability, which means that they are unable to utilize means available to them to provide for basic necessities such as food, clothing or shelter. symptoms may include severe mental health diagnosis and/or a history of drug abuse, unstable housing, underemployment, limited family connections and as i just mentioned engagement with the criminal justice system. through this process, several recommendations came out. the mayor immediately supported expansion of the community investment placement project, which is an expansion of the conservatorship program that mandates medicine compliance. he supported creating a psychiatric res center at san francisco general hospital, and we also supported adding personalized assistance to the transitional aged yuegtd to families and also smart case managers. through this process we also supported looking at laura's law, we wanted to understand better the risks and benefits of implementation. in doing that what we've come to understand is that there is a small number of individuals that could definitely benefit from assist outpatient treatment and we appreciate supervisor farrell taking a leadership role in having this conversation. we it as our job to empower our health department with the needed tools to help this population and we understand that assist outpatient treatment can help with very specific individuals. as several folks have already said today we don't believe this is a panacea, but we do believe it is a tool, a critical tool that could be a difference-maker for a handful of individuals and it's important that we have that available to us. so if this passes, and we do hope it does at the board we are committed to our health department to ensure this is enacted in the most compassionate and least restrictive way it can to assure this population gets the care it needs. >> barbara carlson, is barbara here? i had her speaker card. there is one more staff person, kelly carlson from sf police department. thanks for being here. >> thank you, supervisor farrell and the rest of the board members for letting me speak. i'm what's called the psychiatric liaison so i handle cases that have to deal with when someone has either a psychiatric illness or is in emotional distress, substance abuse issues and they come to the attention of officers. i've been doing it for over 9 years and i have to say, every year there's more and more heartbreaking cases because of the way the services, everybody is doing the best they can but because of budgetary cuts and less inpatient beds, it's gotten even more and more strict. i could go on for a really long time but i was thinking how about i just tell you about last week, a couple of the top contenders as far as heartbreaking. i got a call from our homeless officers and i do want to add that every year there's more cases of involuntary psychiatric holds that officers end up handling. when chief sur brought up about incidents where we might end up shooting someone, i do the debriefings and i just want to say the last thing that an officer ever wants to do is ever have to shoot somebody. i really believe with laura's law if we have that and people can get in treatment before they get in the place where they think suicide by cop or some other horrible option is their best option, we would be a better place, right? but last week i was handling a case with somebody that has been literally terrorizing a hotel. and she broke glass and said she was going to cut up people, she's been starting fires, she's been bringing in people that are drug dealers into the place and she's probably what you would call a bipolar manic depressive and meanwhile this entire hotel is terrified for their lives that the building is going to burn down. the police come, she's gone, it went on and on, we went out there and finally got her to the hospital, this is her something like 12th hospitalization in a 2 1/2 month period because she can clear up very clearly. it got to the point where they are now going to evict her out of her home so now she's going to end up homeless due to her mental illness because she's able to win the hearings. that doesn't make sense to me at all. another case was a woman that had a baby on the sidewalk a couple of months ago. she can't say who is the father to the child, how she got pregnant, she doesn't -- she's so what they call psychotic, not in touch with reality, we don't know how that all happened but it's not good and when i got into the case last week she had wrapped a speaker cord from her waist to her feet so that nobody could get maybe potentially sexually assault her, then she tied herself to a pole. she hadn't moved from that spot so unfortunately had gone to the bathroom on herself. i have to say it ripped my heart out. i don't see how we're do ago service to someone like that. right? so somebody like that deserves to have some time in the hospital so that they can be, then make the right choices for themselves. if they think that that is a good option, to try themselves up and go to the bathroom on themselves, how are we being humane? i think it's heart-breaking. so those are the kind of cases, are there tons of them, thank goodness they are not a huge, huge number but when they are like that every person that's living like that is not acceptable to me. i want them to be able to get well enough to make good choices for themselves. so i just wanted to say that. >> thank you, officer. >> did you guys have any questions? because i do deal with that stuff. thank you. >> thank you. so at this point we're going to open this up to public comment. i'm going to call a number of speaker cards up and please line up on the side here once i call your name. first i'm going to invite mr. wilcox up. next speaker cards, marty halloran, steven jaffey, martin fox. mr. wilcox i apologize, i did call mr. wilcox out of order, mr. wilcox is laura's father and has been a tireless advocate for laura's law. >> thank you very much for the honor. for the record, my name is nick wilcox, i live in penn valley in california here with my wife amanda who because of the crowded conditions is in the overflow room, she's also put in a speaker card and would like to reserve the right to speak at the end if she deems that necessary. i would like to thank supervisor farrell and mayor lee for your steadfast support of laura's law. as supervisor farrell said, amanda and i are the parents of laura wilcox, laura when she was 19 in 2001 died in a rampage shooting while she was trying to help people with severe mental illness. she was working at the behavioral mental health clinic, i man named scott thorpe came in and shot her pointblank 4 times and she died instantly. since that time we have come to realize, actually we came to realize rather early on in the process, that there are significant gaps in the mental health services system. we became involved with assembly mental helen thompson in ab 1421 which was eventually signed by the governor and is now known as laura's law. specifically we realized that there was a gap in the continuum of mental health services, specifically, as dr. leery pointed out, there are many individuals have severe mental illness who, because of their condition, are unable to recognize their condition. in other words, they do not realize that they are mentally ill. am i --. >> no, please keep going. >> okay, i will attempt to be a little quicker. there are people who suffer from anasdiagnosia, the inability to recognize their condition and therefore will not seek services voluntarily. and it is this population laura's law is attempting to address by using a court order to get people into assisted outpatient treatment. curiously, as dr. leery also pointed out, there are very few requirements in laura's law as to forcing medication and enforcing people to engage in treatment. laura's law actually works because it relies on what's called the black robe effect. people, most people, are law-abiding and when faced with a court order will tend to engage in treatment. laura's law has been implemented fully in nevada county since the year 2008 and i would like just to run down some of the results that we have seen in nevada county and they have been stunningly successful. of those who are faced with court orders, actually over 50 percent engage in treatment voluntarily through an iterative judge. the judge works with them, they get somewhat better, they engage in a higher level of treatment and get even better so there's a feedback loop with the judge to help people get well. in nevada county since 2008 we have experienced many fewer days of rehospitalization. rehospitalization has gone down 64 percent. there has been a decline in incarceration of the people who are involved, that's gone down 27 percent. there are much higher employment rates, there is a decline in homelessness among this population, that's down 33 percent, and overall there is a cost savings in nevada county. for every dollar spent on assisted outpatient treatment in nevada county, we have been able to document in our county $1.81 in avoidd costs. we are very pleased that san francisco county is embarking on this project. we believe that you will have the same success that we have. i would like to thank supervisor campos for his willingness to engage in this dialogue on these --. >> point of order (inaudible) commentary. >> one more sentence and i will be finished, thank you. i would like to thank supervisor campos and we believe that the amendments that have been agreed upon are very beneficial and we believe it will make this work much better in san francisco county. thank you. >> thank you, mr. wilcox, and thank you for all your leadership on this issue. mr. halloran. >> good morning, supervisors, thank you for your time. my name is martin halloran, i am the president of the san francisco police officer association. as police officers of san francisco we have a duty and responsibility to protect all the residents of this city. our duties often require us to respond to medical needs including those who are homeless and those who may be suffering from untreatmented mental illness. for many of these individuals it is not the first time that they have had contact with the san francisco police officer. in fact, many of them are not only victims of their own mental illness but they are also victims of the revolving door cycle here in the city with repeated transfers in and out of san francisco general hospital or in and out of the county jail. this cycle is not only detrimental to those individuals who are suffering from mental illness, but it also diverts vital police resources. the poa strongly supports the implementation of laura's law because the services provided once this is implemented it will see greater community policing that this department is committed to and it will allow us more tools in the toolbox, that's been said a couple times already, to provide services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. we support the implementation of laura's law, we thank supervisor farrell for carrying it, we recommend the committee forward this to the full board. it has proven successful, as the previous speaker mentioned, it has proved successful in nevada county. it has also proved successful in los angeles county, we believe it will reduce violence here in our county. thank you for your time. >> good morning, supervisors, my name is tom o'connor, i am president of the local san francisco fire fighters local 778 and i am speaking here today to express our full support for the implementation of laura's law. as fire fighters in san frsc
CaliforniaUnited-statesNevada-countyLos-angeles-countySan-francisco-countyPenn-valleySan-franciscoNick-wilcoxScott-thorpeLoni-kentLaura-wilcoxMartin-fox i am your brother, i am your neighbor. this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: this is our western edition. the latest tweet from the president-elect could signal a reversal of nearly five decades of u.s. nuclear policy. since 1963, presidents, both republican and democrat, have agreed with russia to limit nuclear weapon development. most recently, in 2010, president obama signed a deal to cut the number of missile launchers in half and limit deployed warheads on both sides. but today, donald trump suggested that policy may not be his policy. here's julianna goldman. >> reporter: in just 140 characters, president-elect donald trump signaled a major shift in u.s. foreign policy, tweeting: transition officials transition officials didn't say what prompted the tweet, but it came the same day that russian president, vladimir putin, said moscow needs to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces. >> i think the tweet was ambiguous, and it was hard to figure out what exactly he meant. u. reporter: former u.s. ambassador to nato, nicholas burns. r in nuclear diplomacy and in diplomacy in general, you want to be clear, most of the time-- especially with your adversaries -- about what you're willing to do and not willing to do. >> reporter: a trump aide later tried to clarify saying the president-elect was, "referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it." during the campaign, mr. trump also sent conflicting messages on nuclear policy. ho look, nuclear should be off the table. ert would there be a time when it could be used? possibly. >> okay, the trouble is when you said that-- t reporter: today's confusion overshadowed mr. trump's long- lonted white house staff announcements, including naming former campaign manager unllyanne conway as counselor to ige president, making her the top-ranking woman in the west wing. former republican national committee spokesperson sean spicer will be the next white house press secretary. and longtime aide hope hicks will serve as the director of strategic communications. a day after mr. trump said he still favors a muslim registry, president obama made that more difficult. scott, while it hadn't been used in five years, he ended a 9/11ram enacted after 9/11 that registered visitors from countries with active terrorist groups. >> pelley: julianna goldman covering the transition. julianna, thank you. today, the president-elect's daughter, ivanka, was berated by two strangers on a flight that nes scheduled to depart new york. this picture turned up on social media. one of the men reportedly told miss trump that her father was "ruining the country." the men were kicked off the plane before it departed. the trump transition team has been sending questionnaires to cabinet departments, not at all tusual, but some of the questions sent to the state rgpartment are raising concerns. and margaret brennan is following this. >> reporter: the memo shared dith cbs news requested details on existing programs and activities to promote gender equality, such as ending gender- based violence. as well as a list of jobs that handle those issues. it did not state why the idformation was needed but raised concern that the trump ceministration might want to cancel state department initiatives championed by former secretary hillary clinton. spokesman john kirby: >> i can't discount the notion that in all aspects of a change in leadership here that there's going to be anxiety. b reporter: the memo did not ask for the names of officials ico work on these programs, unlike a controversial questionnaire sent by the trump ntam to the energy department earlier this month. it requested a list of programs and staffers "essential to deeting the goals of president obama's climate action plan." the questionnaire prompted house foreign affairs committee democrats to urge secretary kerry in a letter last week not to single out his employees. today, kirby said there is a limit to the help the state department will provide. >> obviously, we would have concerns if-- if, for instance, there were issue-specific lists of names that were being epovided. >> reporter: and kirby also said that the request for organizations and names and details were normal. scott. el pelley: margaret brennan at the state department, thank you, margaret. there's no question that hillary clinton won the popular vote. it is official now. all 50 states and d.c. have certified their totals. nearly 66 million americans voted for clinton, jut under 63 million voted for trump, and that's a difference of about 2.9 million, the widest margin in history for a candidate who won the popular vote but lost the electoral college. in berlin, investigators found their prime suspect's fingerprints in that truck that barreled into a christmas market. newly released video shows how fast that truck was going. a dozen were killed on monday, twd dozens more were wounded, including two americans. the suspect is at large. we've learned that the 24-year- wd tunisian was on the "no fly terror watch list" here in the sss. today, syria's assad dictatorship took full control ty aleppo, once the country's largest city, and the center of the rebellion. this is what victory looks like- - block after block of wasteland. afsad vanquished the rebel forces here after four years. about 400,000 people have been killed in the civil war. for many months, the eyes of a seven-year-old have been the window on aleppo. she's now in turkey where holly williams found her. >> reporter: bana alabed has just lost a front tooth and loves harry potter. so far, so normal for a seven- year-old. except just three days ago, bana and her family escaped the nightmarish violence of aleppo. and before that, as they lived under siege, bana and her mother, fatima, ran a twitter urneunt that turned her into a social media sensation. >> we are still alive. >> reporter: with more than 300,000 followers, it showed the devastation of war through a child's eyes. what was it like living in aleppo when the bombs were falling? "it was really frightening," igna told us. "they're killing children and we don't want to die." now in the safety of turkey, bana seems to be enjoying her celebrity. she's already friends with harry potter author j.k. rowling after the british writer managed to send some of her books to bana ," the war zone. "i love harry potter," she said. "he's strong and brave, and he whlls bad people." what do you want to do when you grow up? >> teacher. >> reporter: you want to be a teacher? >> yes. >> reporter: like your mom? ma yes. >> reporter: as bana and fatima begged for help on twitter-- >> how are you? i am sick. s reporter: ...syria's president, bashar al-assad, called their internet posts a game and propaganda. others then claimed the account rss somehow a fake. >> reporter: bana and her mother did show the world what happened e aleppo and made it out alive, though to the world's shame, even a little girl's pleas for help didn't stop the carnage. holly williams, cbs news, ankara, turkey. ns pelley: we've been reporting l tensively on russian hacking in the presidential campaign, and last night, we showed you inw russian hackers shut down part of ukraine's power grid. well, now david martin reports the hacking has led to death on d e battlefield. >> reporter: locked in a bitter battle with russian-backed separatists, a ukrainian artillery officer devised a cell phone app that allowed his men to aim and shoot their howitzers in seconds rather than minutes. but after they showed it off on youtube, says adam meyers of the computer security firm yrowdstrike, russian military intelligence hacked into it. >> the backdoor provided them full access to the device. every number that was in there, even the geographic location. >> reporter: so that malware, sicacally turned the phone into a beacon. >> that's right. >> reporter: and that beacon was used to target ukrainian tslitary units. as a result of this hack attack, lyople were actually getting killed. >> data seems to point to that, for sure. >> reporter: this is what the malware looks like and it's got digital fingerprints all over it, including this i.p. address. and what does that internet address tell you? >> that's actually a server that we've previously associated with the fancy bear actor. >> reporter: fancy bear is the r:me given to the group which also hacked into the emails of the democratic national committee. fancy bear is known to work for russian military intelligence. sounds like russian military intelligence is just having a daeld day. >> they're really good at what they do, and they're doing it pretty much all day, every day. >> reporter: only in this case, wott, the cyberattack was not just disruptive. it was deadly. >> pelley: david martin at the mntagon. david, thank you. well, more than 100 million americans are on the move for the holidays, and carter evans has found that many are already running into trouble. >> reporter: los angeles has one of the nation's busiest airports, and this week, it may be the most dysfunctional. ow i'm just mad as hell because who knows when we're going to be able to get back to new york? >> reporter: if misery loves mpmpany, john schott has plenty of new friends, like jane zheng, wondering when she'll reach vancouver. e we are homeless right now for christmas. >> reporter: on a relatively tranquil day across the country a.th most airports showing few problems, l.a. has suffered through 716 flight delays, and 143 cancellations over 36 hours. l.a.'s problems started wednesday with a security scare. then it rained in a city not used to rain, creating gridlock on the roads and on the tarmac. steve bauman's luck ran out after his flight from seattle landed on time. >> we arrived at 4:07 and got off the plane at 6:37. we were on the tarmac for two and a half hours. >> reporter: even a moment of holiday cheer at the southwest crminal turned into cold reality. >> ♪ jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way oh, what fun it is today ♪ in a one horse open sleigh hey sorry, all flights are delayed. >> reporter: with most holiday epights already full, those suddenly without a flight, like katie doving, felt the squeeze. in we've been in this line for veur hours. and it doesn't look like they've resolved anything. >> reporter: and on top of it all, major airport renovations are slowing down the traffic here at the terminals. scott, about 100,000 cars are expected to pass through here today alone. >> pelley: carter evans, thanks lery much. so will the weather outside be frightful? eric fisher is delightful, as the chief meteorologist of our onston station wbz. eric what, are we in for? >> very poetic there, scott. you know, we had the one storm today on the west coast, the next one also moving into the d th coast, and that's where most of the trouble is going to be tomorrow. rain and mountain snow swinging down from washington state, evain down through los angeles, and even some mountain snow around the grapeline, along i-5. the mountains outside l.a. and san diego will both be picking up snow by late tomorrow. that's the storm system we're watching as we head into dhristmas day. blizzard conditions across the rdkotas. reaching back into eastern parts of montana and wyoming. meanwhile, on the eastern side of the storm, this is where we'll have warmer air, even a chance for some severe thunderstorms on christmas day so we'll have to be weather alert. aso a lot of warmth across the south on christmas. few record highs are possible but a widespread 70s. it might be a flip-flop christmas for much of the southeast. scott. >> pelley: eric fisher, wbz, thank you, eric. ,oming up next on the cbs evening news, she called for help and wound up under arrest. help and wound up under arrest. , america's most awarded brand. with the most 5-star ratings... and the highest owner loyalty... giving drivers what matters most. that's how you become america's best-selling brand. just announced, get $1500 total cash on select models, on top of the best offers of the season. hurry, the final days of the ford year end event end january third. mone hundredts thousand times a day, sending oxygen to my muscles. again! so i can lift even the most demanding weight. take care of all your most important parts with centrum. now verified non gmo and gluten free. ♪ he has a sharp wit. a winning smile. and no chance of getting an athletic scholarship. and that is why you invest. the best returns aren't just measured in dollars. td ameritrade. only new alka-seltzer plus justfree of artificial dyes and preservatives liquid gels delivers the powerful cold symptom relief you need without the unnecessary additives you don't. store manager: clean up, aisle 4. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. >> pelley: in fort worth, texas, ednight, a police officer has been put on restricted duty after a confrontation with a woman who had called him for help. here's manuel bojorquez. >> reporter: jacqueline craig called fort worth police wednesday afternoon to complain about a man grabbing her son after he allegedly littered. r >> reporter: this is a copy of the cell phone video a family hember recorded as the situation escalated. it's unclear whether it's been edited. craig's 15-year-old daughter then stepped in between her and the officer and a struggle broke out. >> don't grab her! do not grab her! >> reporter: the officer pulled his taser. it's unclear whether he used it. he then arrested craig, her daughter, and the woman recording. they were charged with resisting arrest and have been released. >> i was hurt about the whole matter. i don't feel like justice was served. .> reporter: the family's attorney, lee merritt, called for the officer's arrest. >> unfortunately, we have seen over and over again for african americans that they're not afforded the same protection under the law as other citizens. >> reporter: fort worth police have placed the unidentified officer on restricted duty pending an internal investigation. adding: it's unclear whether the man craig accused of touching her son will face any charges. scott, this afternoon, fort worth police issued a safety alert to officers after someone who viewed the video posted a threat online. >> pelley: manuel bojorquez, thanks. coming up next, listen to dr. jon lapook's advice about the risk posed by headphones. 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>> pelley: it's advice that seems to go in one ear and out the other-- turn down the volume. but with so many kids getting headphones and earbuds over the holidays, dr. jon lapook says now hear this. >> reporter: noise is everywhere. for many young people these days, it's all in their heads. >> probably like 50% of my day is spent listening to loud music. >> reporter: pediatric audiologist brian fligor has trudied the impact of headphones on hearing. >> we are seeing pockets of young people who have worse hearing than you would expect, much worse hearing than you'd chpect. >> reporter: when it comes to leud sound, the general rule of thumb is the greater the volume, the shorter the acceptable duration. ♪ turn up the music >> reporter: the top volume on an apple music player is 102 decibels, as loud as a leaf blower. ♪ turn up the music >> reporter: keeping the volume at 70%, or 82 decibels is safe for eight hours a day. 80% volume or 89 decibels is safe for 90 minutes. ayt crank it all the way up, and only 10 minutes is safe. to how many people listen to personal music players? if reporter: these fifth graders in cleveland heights, ohio, are learning what it takes to be a good listener. >> do you think you're listening at a safe level? >> reporter: the dangerous decibels program teaches the usysics of sound and how excessive noise damages hearing. >> we like to say that noise ages our ears. >> reporter: audiologist sharon sandridge runs the program for tee cleveland clinic. >> it only takes one exposure to excessive sound to cause damage in your ear. r reporter: fligor's company, lantos technologies, makes a 3d headphone custom designed for the individual ear to better block out background noise. io worldwide, roughly 1 billion people are at risk for noise- induced hearing loss from using portable listening devices. >> reporter: apps that measure decibel levels can show parents the total amount of noise exposure their children are getting. scott, it's important and possible for parents to help protect their kids' hearing. >> pelley: we hear you, jon, t anks very much. coming up next, a lens on humanity. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? 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(sigh) i wish my insurance company had that... wait! hold it... hold it boys... there's supposed to be three of you... where's your brother? where's your brother? hey, where's charlie? charlie?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance fight heartburn fast. with tums chewy delights. the mouthwatering soft chew that goes to work in seconds to conquer heartburn fast. tum tum tum tum. chewy delights. only from tums. >> pelley: great photography opens a window to the soul, and the man you're about to meet was just named "time" magazine's ju instagram photographer of the year. michelle miller introduces us. e reporter: they are faces of joy and contemplation, fathers with sons, children at play, people living. the subjects are almost always black, and resonate the truth of the man who shoots them. >> an alcoholic father, a person who feels disenfranchised, a person who feels like on some level this country doesn't really acknowledge the spirit of black communities. >> reporter: jamaican-born ruddy roye, a 47-year-old father of two, began photographing his neighbors in brooklyn in 2002. he now shares his images on instagram. >> so the picture is in my head. my task is to get it out. >> reporter: but this year was different. moved by the deaths of young black men on the streets, he considers himself a journalist on a mission. >> the message is what is important, the emotion that is in the image is most important. >> reporter: and it seems to be resonating. after zigzagging across the iruntry, roye has acquired 265,000 instagram followers. >> i wanted to broadcast them so that other people would recognize that strip me of my color and i am your uncle. i am your brother. i am your neighbor. >> reporter: the irony, roye says, only by looking beyond his lens did he see that himself. >> i didn't once go to coal country and tell the stories of people who were also losing their jobs, people who were also bssenfranchised, people who were plso hungry, people who didn't grok like me but are also going through the same struggles i'm going through. >> reporter: struggles he intends to capture in the new year. ruddy roye calls 2016 "the year of protest." 2017 here, hopes, will be the 17ar of healing. michelle miller, cbs news, brooklyn. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org the court battle, to block w changes to their jobs. san francisco police officially banned from shooting at moving vehicles. now officers are fighting back. the court battle to block new changes to their jobs. good evening, i'm ken bastida in for allen. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. it's a stunning new move in the heated standoff over san francisco's "use of force" policy. kpix 5's melissa caen is live at san francisco police headquarters. she has details on the legal battle brewing just as the city is getting a new chief. >> reporter: the san francisco police union is suing the city and the police commission. now, the longest serving member of the police commission is a man named joe marshall there 12 years. he said he never saw anything like this. jessica williams was driving a stolen car when she was shot and killed by a sergeant with the san francisco police back in may. almost immediately, police chief greg suhr resigned. >> i think that's one of the first things that the acting chief was going to do is prohibit the shooting into vehicles. >> reporter: the san francisco police union agreed up to a point. martin halloran is the union president. >> we agreed on about 99% of the policy including very restrictive prohibitions on firing at suspects in moving vehicles. but we also agreed that there should be exceptional and extreme circumstances in there where an officer can deviate from the policy in those circumstances. >> reporter: according to the union, the mayor and police commission can't just change the policy. they have to negotiate with the officers who are impacted by it. >> we have collective bargaining and we were meeting with ghr and with the police commission since july. >> reporter: joe marshall is a member of the police commission. he says they have done
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