A Crisis Team Responding to a Suicide Attempt Asked for Help, El Cajon Police Refused

Back in May, El Cajon police stopped automatically responding to mental health crisis calls where someone is threatening to harm themselves, but there’s no apparent crime or danger to others.  

The department’s policy shift, first reported by Voice of San Diego, followed a federal appeals court ruling that El Cajon police concluded means police could have personal liability if such calls go sideways. 

Voice of San Diego obtained a county log of incidents where El Cajon police declined to assist. An incident a month after the department’s change emphasizes the complex nature of these calls and the risks for all involved whether or not police respond. 

Per the county log, the call came in on June 12 at 7:16 p.m. 

El Cajon police referred a call to a civilian county-contracted Mobile Crisis Response Team, which only responds to situations without a perceived safety risk. 

“Client attempted suicide in front of MCRT,” the county log reads. 

It also states the team was “able to redirect (the person) during (the) actual attempt” and that El Cajon police “refused to assist.” 

The county document also states that MCRT ultimately left the person behind after working on a safety plan with their family and filing a notification that can lead to a person losing the right to buy, sell or possess a firearm for five years. 

El Cajon police Capt. Keith MacArthur offered more details, including some that conflict with the county log. 

He wrote in an email that El Cajon police spoke with the man’s father after receiving the call from the county’s Access & Crisis Line and learned that his adult son “had cuts on his wrists from the day before and that he might have a little knife.”   

The man’s son was in his room alone and he told police he was “unsure if (his son) would be cooperative with police.”  

Police referred the call to MCRT. The team reported at some point after their arrival that the man was “agitated, delusional and non-sensical” but didn’t need medical attention and was just a danger to himself. 

MacArthur said a police sergeant called the MCRT team to let them know police would “not respond if the subject was only a danger to himself and no one else was in danger.” 

Then the situation escalated. 

About 35 minutes later, MacArthur wrote, the MCRT team said the man had “now threatened a neighbor and possibly had a razor in his room” and tried calling police but “abandoned the call.” When the sergeant eventually spoke to the crisis team, MacArthur said the crisis team said the statement was “to harm a neighbor was a blanket threat and not specific.” 

The crisis team placed an evaluation hold on the caller’s son but feared he might fight them.  

Per the county log, the crisis team concluded the man was “no longer safe to transport” to the hospital for evaluation and sought support from police. 

“They were instructed by the (police) supervisor to leave if they no longer felt safe,” MacArthur wrote. “MCRT eventually cleared from the scene. ECPD did not respond. The subject was left at the residence. There were no further calls.” 

MacArthur defended the sergeant’s decisions that evening. 

“The sergeant determined a crime had not occurred, was not occurring, and according to MCRT the subject was not a danger to anyone else,” MacArthur wrote. “Police intervention in this incident could have escalated the situation and someone may have gotten hurt.” 

Voice asked two experts to weigh in. Both said El Cajon police should have responded to the call given the report of a safety threat and self harm. 

Andy Prisco, a training consultant who founded Washington state’s psychiatric emergency response team and co-authored a crisis intervention certification handbook, said he was “bewildered” by the department’s refusal to respond.  

Prisco argued that police should have responded to assess the safety threat at the scene and perhaps coordinated with the civilian crisis team. He said safety should have been prioritized over the father’s concerns about whether his son would cooperate with police. 

“Mobile crisis teams are not trained or equipped or sworn to respond to violent emergencies,” Prisco said. “That’s what the police do.” 

Retired San Francisco police deputy chief Jim Dudley, a consultant who has followed the federal appeals court case, agreed that police should have responded. 

“Once there’s a threat, and once there’s a threat involving a weapon, then you’ve gotta go,” Dudley said. 

While not specifically addressing the June incident, MacArthur acknowledged in an interview with Voice that El Cajon police are learning and adjusting as they settle into their changed approach to such calls. 

“It’s kind of uncharted territory. Are there going to be the one-offs where maybe we should have responded? Sure,” MacArthur said. “Nobody’s perfect but I think we’re getting it right 99 percent of the time.” 

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