< Return to Video

Skid Row: A mental health state of emergency | Deon Joseph | TEDxGrandPark

  • 0:13 - 0:16
    I've been a police officer for 25 years,
  • 0:16 - 0:19
    22 of those years spent in a place
    known as Skid Row,
  • 0:19 - 0:22
    which is also known as the mecca
    for all things homeless
  • 0:22 - 0:24
    in the United States of America.
  • 0:24 - 0:28
    Currently, we're going through a failure
    for several reasons -
  • 0:28 - 0:31
    change in laws that has given
    the criminal element
  • 0:31 - 0:33
    a stronger grip over
    the homeless community
  • 0:33 - 0:34
    than ever before
  • 0:34 - 0:37
    and litigation that's tied our hands
  • 0:37 - 0:40
    in creating an environment
    conducive to change
  • 0:40 - 0:44
    so that the service providers in Skid Row
    can be stronger than that -
  • 0:44 - 0:48
    their influence can be stronger
    than that of the criminal element.
  • 0:48 - 0:52
    Whether we have succeeded
    or whether we failed,
  • 0:52 - 0:54
    there was always one glaring challenge
  • 0:54 - 0:57
    that we were never ever really
    able to get a hold of,
  • 0:57 - 0:59
    and that was mental illness
  • 0:59 - 1:01
    or even worse, dual diagnosis,
  • 1:01 - 1:04
    which is when somebody
    struggles with mental illness
  • 1:04 - 1:06
    but they're also on drugs.
  • 1:07 - 1:10
    That is a huge, huge challenge.
  • 1:10 - 1:14
    Now, I first came to Skid Row
    in the summer of 1997.
  • 1:15 - 1:17
    It has always been my experience
  • 1:17 - 1:21
    that when you enter in a bad place
    anywhere in this country,
  • 1:21 - 1:23
    there's usually about
    a mile and a half stretch of territory
  • 1:23 - 1:26
    that kind of warns you first.
  • 1:26 - 1:30
    When I first got to downtown LA,
    this was my experience.
  • 1:30 - 1:33
    I'm driving northbound on the 110 freeway,
  • 1:33 - 1:36
    and I'm looking at the beautiful,
    picturesque LA skyline,
  • 1:36 - 1:40
    which is the West Coast symbol
    of America's economic might and power.
  • 1:40 - 1:43
    And I said, "That's downtown.
  • 1:43 - 1:46
    It can't be that bad."
  • 1:46 - 1:48
    And I'm seeing people in business suits,
  • 1:48 - 1:50
    drinking coffee,
  • 1:50 - 1:51
    carrying briefcases,
  • 1:52 - 1:54
    smoking on a cigarette to de-stress.
  • 1:54 - 1:57
    And I said, "This can't be that bad."
  • 1:59 - 2:00
    Ladies and gentlemen, look.
  • 2:00 - 2:03
    Folks, as soon as I crossed Spring Street,
  • 2:04 - 2:07
    it was as if I tripped and fell
    into Dante's Inferno,
  • 2:07 - 2:09
    Mad Max Thunderdome,
  • 2:09 - 2:10
    Waterworld,
  • 2:10 - 2:13
    any natural disaster movie
    you could think of,
  • 2:13 - 2:14
    I was there.
  • 2:15 - 2:19
    And I saw some of the most horrific things
    I'd ever seen, in a 50-block radius.
  • 2:20 - 2:25
    I saw trash that was piled up to my knees.
  • 2:26 - 2:30
    I saw people having "relations"
    on the sidewalk.
  • 2:30 - 2:35
    I saw people shooting heroin
    and smoking crack in broad daylight.
  • 2:35 - 2:38
    But the worst thing that I saw that day -
  • 2:38 - 2:40
    it gave me a sense of hopelessness -
  • 2:40 - 2:46
    was to see individuals walking around
    with hospital gowns and wristbands,
  • 2:46 - 2:50
    walking aimlessly in the streets,
    not knowing where they were.
  • 2:50 - 2:53
    I knew who they were:
    they were clearly mentally ill.
  • 2:55 - 2:57
    I got into the station,
  • 2:57 - 3:00
    and my first gig at the station
    was to work the front desk.
  • 3:00 - 3:02
    I'm introduced to my partner, and he says,
  • 3:02 - 3:05
    "Welcome to the front desk,
    Officer Joseph."
  • 3:05 - 3:09
    He says, "Oh, by the way,
    Hurricane Linda's out."
  • 3:09 - 3:11
    I said, "Who's Hurricane Linda?"
  • 3:11 - 3:13
    This is where I was introduced
    to mental illness
  • 3:13 - 3:15
    in the most extreme way possible.
  • 3:15 - 3:18
    I thought I knew everything
    there was to know about mental illness.
  • 3:18 - 3:22
    My mother and father
    raised 41 foster children.
  • 3:22 - 3:24
    Some of them were on
    the spectrum of mental illness,
  • 3:24 - 3:25
    dealing with trauma -
  • 3:25 - 3:28
    sexual trauma, physical trauma, neglect.
  • 3:28 - 3:29
    Thought I knew.
  • 3:29 - 3:33
    I helped raise my niece from birth
    up until she was 33 years old.
  • 3:33 - 3:36
    She also was on the spectrum
    of mental illness.
  • 3:36 - 3:37
    I thought I knew.
  • 3:37 - 3:39
    I was not prepared.
  • 3:39 - 3:41
    My partner continued, he said,
  • 3:41 - 3:44
    "Yeah, she just got out the hospital
    a little bit too early, uh,
  • 3:44 - 3:47
    she's gonna come into the station,
    she's gonna kick over the trash can,
  • 3:47 - 3:49
    she's gonna punch the vending machine,
  • 3:49 - 3:51
    push over the ATM, throw papers around,
  • 3:51 - 3:53
    try to rip the phone out of the wall,
  • 3:53 - 3:56
    and by the way, Officer Joseph,
    she's gonna spit in your face."
  • 3:58 - 4:00
    Now, I'm this big, tough guy
    from Long Beach back then.
  • 4:00 - 4:04
    I was like, "I wish a mother
    would spit in my face," right?
  • 4:04 - 4:07
    "Spit in Officer Joseph's face!"
  • 4:07 - 4:08
    Right?
  • 4:08 - 4:11
    (Laughs)
  • 4:12 - 4:14
    No sooner than I said that,
  • 4:14 - 4:17
    the hurricane comes
    swirling into the station.
  • 4:17 - 4:19
    She kicked over the trash can,
  • 4:19 - 4:21
    she punched the vending machine,
  • 4:21 - 4:22
    she pushed the ATM,
  • 4:22 - 4:24
    she ripped the papers off the wall,
  • 4:24 - 4:27
    and then tried to pull
    the phone out of the wall,
  • 4:27 - 4:29
    and then she sees me, the new face,
  • 4:29 - 4:30
    and her eyes got big.
  • 4:30 - 4:31
    And she approaches the front desk,
  • 4:31 - 4:34
    and she puts her finger
    in my face and says,
  • 4:34 - 4:37
    "You're my little brother."
  • 4:38 - 4:41
    "Uh, ma'am, I don't know you. I'm sorry."
  • 4:41 - 4:44
    And then she puts her fingers
    up to her lips and says,
  • 4:44 - 4:48
    "Shh - it's your birthday."
  • 4:49 - 4:51
    I look at my partner, I say,
    "What do I do here, boss?"
  • 4:51 - 4:55
    He says, "Tell her it's your birthday,
    stupid, so we don't get in trouble."
  • 4:55 - 4:57
    Alright, happy birthday to me, alright?
  • 4:57 - 4:58
    No sooner than I said that,
  • 4:58 - 4:59
    her eyes got big,
  • 4:59 - 5:01
    and she smiled as wide as the ocean,
  • 5:01 - 5:04
    and she flew out of the station.
  • 5:04 - 5:07
    She came back an hour later,
    wearing nothing but her trench coat.
  • 5:08 - 5:11
    She stands in front of me,
    and she rips open her trench coat,
  • 5:11 - 5:14
    pulls out a giant plush Tweety bird,
    slams it onto the desk.
  • 5:14 - 5:15
    Bam!
  • 5:15 - 5:17
    "Happy birthday, little brother!"
  • 5:17 - 5:19
    I'm like, "Thank you,
    but why did you get me this?"
  • 5:20 - 5:22
    She said, "Because your head
    is shaped just like it."
  • 5:22 - 5:23
    Ugh!
  • 5:23 - 5:25
    (Laughter)
  • 5:26 - 5:28
    Now, if I wasn't already self-conscious
  • 5:28 - 5:31
    about the good Lord
    taking my beautiful wavy hair ...
  • 5:31 - 5:35
    But really, a mentally ill woman
    who was a drug addict
  • 5:35 - 5:39
    was the first human being
    to make me laugh since I got to Skid Row.
  • 5:40 - 5:42
    Linda and I became friends.
  • 5:42 - 5:44
    When I say "friends," like, real friends.
  • 5:44 - 5:47
    We had a seven-year friendship.
  • 5:47 - 5:50
    Linda depended on me
    to keep her safe ...
  • 5:50 - 5:52
    from the birds.
  • 5:52 - 5:55
    I'm like, "Birds?"
  • 5:55 - 5:58
    I'd been in the field
    arresting drug dealers.
  • 5:58 - 6:01
    She'd grab me on a pant leg:
    "Joseph, the birds, the birds!"
  • 6:01 - 6:03
    "Baby, can you see me
    handling business over here?" Right?
  • 6:03 - 6:05
    Didn't care.
  • 6:05 - 6:06
    She needed her little brother.
  • 6:07 - 6:08
    I discovered that oftentimes
  • 6:08 - 6:11
    when individuals are struggling
    with mental illness,
  • 6:11 - 6:14
    when they're trying to talk to you,
    when they're talking incoherently
  • 6:14 - 6:17
    or where they're talking
    in an agitated state of delirium,
  • 6:17 - 6:20
    they're often trying
    to tell you their story
  • 6:20 - 6:22
    from within their troubled mind.
  • 6:22 - 6:25
    And many of us walk away, understandably.
  • 6:25 - 6:26
    I chose to listen.
  • 6:28 - 6:32
    Now, I listened but I didn't hear her.
  • 6:33 - 6:35
    She was trying to tell me something.
  • 6:35 - 6:38
    I found out who the birds were one day.
  • 6:38 - 6:41
    I was taking my beautiful wife
    to a party off-duty,
  • 6:41 - 6:43
    driving on the 60 freeway.
  • 6:44 - 6:48
    A big, ugly, burgundy van
    pulls up next to me.
  • 6:48 - 6:51
    A head sticks out and starts screaming,
  • 6:51 - 6:53
    "Hey, little brother, the birds got you!
  • 6:53 - 6:54
    I told you,
  • 6:54 - 6:56
    that's my little brother right there!
  • 6:56 - 6:57
    And I'm like, "Oh my God!"
  • 6:59 - 7:01
    And when I looked in the front seat,
  • 7:01 - 7:04
    there was an older woman
    with high cheekbones who resembled her.
  • 7:04 - 7:06
    That's mama bird.
  • 7:06 - 7:09
    In the back seat were two young ladies
    who resembled her as well.
  • 7:09 - 7:12
    I could only assume
    that they were the baby birds.
  • 7:13 - 7:16
    And they would snatch her and say,
    "Linda, get your butt back in the car,"
  • 7:16 - 7:18
    and snatched her back in the car.
  • 7:18 - 7:20
    It was her loved ones
  • 7:20 - 7:23
    who would often come down to Skid Row
  • 7:23 - 7:28
    and lovingly kidnap her, bring her home,
    and try to love her back to health.
  • 7:29 - 7:33
    But that was a challenge
    because she was addicted to drugs.
  • 7:33 - 7:36
    And oftentimes she would escape from home
  • 7:36 - 7:40
    and end up coming right back to Skid Row
    to scratch her chemical itch.
  • 7:41 - 7:42
    And when she did that,
  • 7:42 - 7:45
    it would cause her to not only
    do terrible things to herself,
  • 7:46 - 7:50
    but it also caused her
    to do horrible things to others.
  • 7:51 - 7:52
    One day she sees me in the street,
  • 7:52 - 7:54
    and she says,
  • 7:54 - 7:56
    "Hey, little brother, I love you."
  • 7:56 - 7:58
    I said, "Baby, I love you too."
  • 7:58 - 8:00
    She said, "I want to give you something.
  • 8:00 - 8:03
    You've been watching over me for years.
  • 8:03 - 8:06
    I want to give you something
    that's going to watch over you."
  • 8:06 - 8:10
    She gave me this porcelain angel.
  • 8:11 - 8:15
    I've held onto this
    for 15 years of my life.
  • 8:16 - 8:17
    I loved her,
  • 8:17 - 8:19
    and I think at first
    I asked her if she stole it first.
  • 8:19 - 8:21
    (Laughter)
  • 8:21 - 8:22
    She promised me she didn't, so -
  • 8:22 - 8:23
    (Laughs)
  • 8:24 - 8:27
    So I took this angel,
  • 8:27 - 8:30
    and I immediately went to my locker,
    opened my locker,
  • 8:30 - 8:32
    and I put it at the top of my locker.
  • 8:32 - 8:34
    Because I wanted to open my locker
  • 8:34 - 8:37
    and have this angel
    smiling down on me every day.
  • 8:38 - 8:40
    One day, I came to work,
  • 8:40 - 8:42
    I opened my locker
    and I start donning my uniform,
  • 8:42 - 8:45
    and I reach up to get something
    off the top of my locker,
  • 8:45 - 8:50
    and the angel falls
    and cracks on the ground.
  • 8:50 - 8:52
    I was upset, but I figured,
  • 8:52 - 8:54
    let me go get some glue
    and glue this thing together,
  • 8:54 - 8:56
    everything's going to be okay.
  • 8:57 - 9:00
    As I was picking it up, one of my partners
    walks up to me and says,
  • 9:00 - 9:04
    "Hey Joseph, did you hear
    what happened to the hurricane?"
  • 9:04 - 9:06
    I was like, "What did she do now?"
  • 9:07 - 9:09
    He says, "She ain't doing nothing.
  • 9:10 - 9:11
    She's dead."
  • 9:13 - 9:17
    She sat on the sidewalk in front of
    our station, injected herself with heroin,
  • 9:18 - 9:22
    and because she couldn't respond,
    she froze to death.
  • 9:23 - 9:25
    And I waited for him to walk away.
  • 9:26 - 9:28
    I sat down in front of my locker,
  • 9:28 - 9:31
    and then the tears
    started to well in my eyes.
  • 9:32 - 9:37
    Then out of nowhere
    I'm punching my locker in anger
  • 9:37 - 9:39
    over a mentally ill woman
  • 9:39 - 9:41
    who was a drug addict,
  • 9:41 - 9:44
    who I loved with all of my heart.
  • 9:44 - 9:48
    In my opinion, the system failed her.
  • 9:49 - 9:51
    Failed many others too.
  • 9:51 - 9:56
    I'll never forget,
    the late '90s, - '98, '99, -
  • 9:56 - 9:57
    I'm walking a foot beat.
  • 9:57 - 10:00
    We were two of the cops
    crazy enough to walk a foot beat
  • 10:00 - 10:04
    in the area of 6th and San Julian
    in the '90s, and it was off the hook then.
  • 10:04 - 10:06
    Now, I'm not the hero
    in this story, my partner is.
  • 10:06 - 10:09
    I was eating a bacon-wrapped hot dog
    from Los Angeles Street,
  • 10:09 - 10:10
    and it was delicious.
  • 10:11 - 10:13
    As I'm munching on my delicious hot dog,
  • 10:13 - 10:15
    we're talking about
    how horrible the Lakers were,
  • 10:15 - 10:18
    glad Shaq and Kobe was here,
    things are going to turn around,
  • 10:18 - 10:22
    my heroic partner disappears
    out of the corner of my eye.
  • 10:23 - 10:28
    And I look and I see my partner
    flying through the air to grab a woman
  • 10:28 - 10:30
    who looked like a soccer mom.
  • 10:30 - 10:32
    Mental illness doesn't have a look.
  • 10:32 - 10:34
    And he reached out, grabbed her
  • 10:34 - 10:38
    and pulled her from the path
    of an MTA bus.
  • 10:38 - 10:41
    He threw her towards me.
    I drop my delicious hot dog,
  • 10:41 - 10:42
    I'm mad now. I handcuff her.
  • 10:42 - 10:44
    I said, "Ma'am, what are you doing?"
  • 10:45 - 10:48
    She said, "I heard voices telling me
    to jump in front of a bus so I did it."
  • 10:48 - 10:51
    Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.
    She said the magic words.
  • 10:51 - 10:56
    Now we can quote unquote
    "help her," right?
  • 10:56 - 10:57
    Took her to the station,
  • 10:57 - 11:00
    had our wonderful mental evaluation unit
    talk to her, evaluate her.
  • 11:00 - 11:03
    They said, "Yep, send her
    to a contract hospital."
  • 11:03 - 11:04
    We did just that.
  • 11:04 - 11:07
    Dropped her off at the hospital,
    gave each other a high-five.
  • 11:07 - 11:09
    The police save the day, right?
  • 11:09 - 11:11
    Six hours later,
  • 11:11 - 11:13
    one of our partners comes up and says,
  • 11:13 - 11:14
    "Hey!
  • 11:14 - 11:16
    Hey A-team!
  • 11:16 - 11:19
    You remember the lady you guys saved
    in the area 6th and San Julian?"
  • 11:19 - 11:21
    I said, "Yeah."
  • 11:21 - 11:24
    "Well, she just successfully
    killed herself with another MTA bus
  • 11:24 - 11:27
    in the area Cesar Chavez and Broadway."
  • 11:27 - 11:29
    (Whispering) What?
  • 11:29 - 11:31
    Who failed soccer mom?
  • 11:32 - 11:36
    Was it her symptoms or was it a system?
  • 11:37 - 11:39
    I think it's the system.
  • 11:39 - 11:42
    Lastly, I had another friend
    named Margaret.
  • 11:42 - 11:45
    Long story short, we met,
    she hated my guts with a passion.
  • 11:46 - 11:49
    One day I saw her at her worst.
    At the time I was a young officer.
  • 11:49 - 11:50
    I had no resources and she said,
  • 11:50 - 11:53
    "Officer Joseph, can you
    help me get housing?"
  • 11:53 - 11:55
    At the time, I couldn't.
    I didn't know what to do.
  • 11:55 - 11:58
    I said, "I hope you get housing,
    but I don't know."
  • 11:58 - 12:01
    Several months later,
    she did get housed,
  • 12:01 - 12:06
    in one of the most drug
    infested housing units in Skid Row.
  • 12:06 - 12:10
    Months later, we get a radio call
    to respond to this hotel.
  • 12:10 - 12:12
    We get to the third floor,
    and there are two women
  • 12:12 - 12:15
    who have been stabbed
    with a pair of sewing scissors.
  • 12:15 - 12:17
    And if you've ever seen sewing scissors,
  • 12:17 - 12:18
    they're that small.
  • 12:18 - 12:22
    But whoever did the damage
    got to slicing and dicing.
  • 12:22 - 12:25
    And I looked down the hall,
    and I saw my friend Margaret
  • 12:25 - 12:27
    sitting like a child
    with her legs crossed,
  • 12:27 - 12:31
    bloody scissors in one hand,
    empty crack pipe in another,
  • 12:31 - 12:34
    and an empty bottle of pills
    in her jacket pocket,
  • 12:34 - 12:37
    bragging about how
    she just killed two alligators
  • 12:37 - 12:39
    that broke into her friends' room,
  • 12:39 - 12:42
    not realizing that they were her friends.
  • 12:43 - 12:48
    Listen, I know from a public safety
    and a legal standpoint,
  • 12:49 - 12:53
    I had no choice but to send her to prison,
  • 12:53 - 12:56
    but I'm telling you,
    as a police officer and a man
  • 12:56 - 13:00
    that that was morally wrong.
  • 13:01 - 13:03
    Someone should have
    helped Margaret long before.
  • 13:04 - 13:06
    We have many people
    on the spectrum of mental illness
  • 13:06 - 13:08
    who fell in the loving arms of family,
  • 13:08 - 13:11
    who did the best they could
    to them and loved them back to health.
  • 13:11 - 13:13
    And it's a struggle. It's real.
  • 13:13 - 13:14
    It's real!
  • 13:15 - 13:19
    But you had many who were
    either dumped in, shoved in,
  • 13:19 - 13:23
    or wandered into places like Skid Row.
  • 13:23 - 13:26
    And here's what happens to them
    when they get there.
  • 13:26 - 13:30
    They stop taking their prescribed
    medication. You know why?
  • 13:30 - 13:33
    Because it makes them
    feel down, lethargic,
  • 13:33 - 13:36
    and in Skid Row, it's what
    my son used to call "turnt up."
  • 13:36 - 13:40
    You can't be down
    in "Turnt Up Ville," right?
  • 13:40 - 13:44
    So they would give away,
    sell their prescribed medication
  • 13:44 - 13:46
    to make money to do what?
  • 13:46 - 13:47
    Self-medicate on the hard stuff:
  • 13:47 - 13:50
    crack cocaine, methamphetamine
    and other drugs.
  • 13:50 - 13:53
    And that would exacerbate
    their conditions 100-fold
  • 13:53 - 13:55
    where they then
    became a police problem.
  • 13:55 - 13:59
    Listen, it's not a police issue
    if you're mentally ill.
  • 13:59 - 14:00
    It's not a crime to be bipolar.
  • 14:00 - 14:03
    It's not a crime
    to be paranoid schizophrenic.
  • 14:03 - 14:04
    Not at all.
  • 14:04 - 14:08
    But when those things meet drug addiction,
    it can have disastrous consequences.
  • 14:08 - 14:12
    And who do they call when it happens?
    The police. The tip of the spear.
  • 14:12 - 14:14
    And we get there with our badges
    and our handcuffs
  • 14:14 - 14:16
    and all these other tools.
  • 14:16 - 14:19
    Everybody says, "Why don't
    you get a clinician to go with you?"
  • 14:19 - 14:23
    Our clinicians are wonderful,
    but many of them won't even approach them.
  • 14:23 - 14:24
    And how do you expect us to fix it,
  • 14:24 - 14:27
    and even our wonderful
    mental health clinicians,
  • 14:27 - 14:28
    when there's a can of chemical buffer
  • 14:28 - 14:31
    between us and the crisis at hand?
  • 14:31 - 14:33
    It's a challenge.
  • 14:34 - 14:36
    Here are the tools they give us
  • 14:36 - 14:38
    to help people who struggle
    with mental illness:
  • 14:38 - 14:42
    5150 or 5152 of the Welfare
    and Institution codes,
  • 14:42 - 14:46
    where we were able to
    detain them and hospitalized them
  • 14:46 - 14:50
    for 72 hours or less,
    or two weeks in extreme cases.
  • 14:50 - 14:53
    Let's show you where that fails.
  • 14:53 - 14:56
    Anybody here ever try
    to get washboard abs?
  • 14:57 - 14:59
    (Laughs)
  • 14:59 - 15:02
    Think you can get a six-pack
    in 72 hours or less?
  • 15:03 - 15:04
    I'm going to tell you no
  • 15:04 - 15:07
    because I've tried that
    before I came here and it didn't work.
  • 15:08 - 15:13
    It takes days, weeks,
    even months to get those results.
  • 15:13 - 15:17
    So how can we realistically
    or humanely believe
  • 15:17 - 15:20
    that we're going to help someone
    on the spectrum of mental illness,
  • 15:20 - 15:23
    or even worse, dual diagnosis,
    in 72 hours or less?
  • 15:23 - 15:28
    Listen, it takes six weeks
    for the average person
  • 15:28 - 15:32
    to benefit from the therapeutic attributes
    of their prescribed medication,
  • 15:33 - 15:37
    so you can't expect that
    to stabilize them in 72 hours or less.
  • 15:37 - 15:40
    Listen, I know I'm just a street cop.
  • 15:40 - 15:43
    I do not claim to have all the answers,
  • 15:43 - 15:45
    but I do have some suggestions
  • 15:45 - 15:50
    based on 22 years of dealing with
    the people I care about in Skid Row.
  • 15:51 - 15:56
    It should never be 72 hours or less,
    especially when they're in crisis
  • 15:56 - 15:57
    or dual diagnosis.
  • 15:57 - 15:59
    It should be six weeks and here's why.
  • 15:59 - 16:02
    You have to detox them first.
  • 16:03 - 16:06
    You've got to detox them
    so they can hear you.
  • 16:06 - 16:10
    Then after you detox them,
    develop a rapport,
  • 16:10 - 16:13
    give them the medications, stabilize them,
  • 16:13 - 16:16
    and find out who their loved ones are
  • 16:16 - 16:18
    so we can reunite them
    with their loved ones.
  • 16:19 - 16:23
    The next step is
    we have to ask our politicians
  • 16:23 - 16:27
    to streamline and quicken
    the process of conservatorship.
  • 16:27 - 16:31
    Because it's too long, and it's too late.
  • 16:31 - 16:33
    Okay?
  • 16:33 - 16:40
    Lastly, we should never put anything
    recovery related in dangerous places,
  • 16:40 - 16:43
    crime ridden places, like Skid Row.
  • 16:44 - 16:45
    It's wrong.
  • 16:45 - 16:47
    You're not giving them a fair chance.
  • 16:47 - 16:50
    How can you rehabilitate
    when the person preying on you
  • 16:50 - 16:54
    is not only outside the facility
    but sneaks in as well?
  • 16:55 - 16:56
    Listen.
  • 16:56 - 16:59
    This is what we need, and I'll end here.
  • 16:59 - 17:02
    We need our politicians,
  • 17:02 - 17:06
    our first responders -
    police officers, firefighters,
  • 17:06 - 17:08
    we need our wonderful
    mental health clinicians,
  • 17:08 - 17:13
    and yes, civil liberties groups
    to come to the table with intentionality
  • 17:13 - 17:15
    in solving this serious crisis,
  • 17:15 - 17:21
    to void ourselves of partisanship,
    finger-pointing, blame,
  • 17:21 - 17:24
    and let's come together
    and solve this problem in a real way.
  • 17:24 - 17:29
    What you're hearing is not
    from the perspective of a police officer.
  • 17:29 - 17:30
    We need to stop that.
  • 17:31 - 17:35
    What you're hearing
    is from the perspective of a human being
  • 17:35 - 17:37
    who happens to be a police officer,
  • 17:37 - 17:42
    who cares about these individuals
    like nobody's business.
  • 17:42 - 17:43
    I thank you for listening.
  • 17:43 - 17:45
    Rest in peace, Linda.
  • 17:45 - 17:47
    (Applause) (Cheers)
Title:
Skid Row: A mental health state of emergency | Deon Joseph | TEDxGrandPark
Description:

Deon Joseph is a law enforcement consultant who has worked for the LAPD for over 20 years - seventeen of those years in downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row community. From patrolling the streets to meeting with public figures and advocating for change, Deon is driven to influence an environment for the homeless that helps them to reclaim their lives from the grips of their complex issues.

In his talk, Deon offers practical insights from his experience working boots on the ground in one of the worst homeless situations in the US.

Through his work in the Skid Row community, Deon has found that many homeless people have been indoctrinated to fear and mistrust of law enforcement and consequently do not seek their help.

Deon created The Housing Program and The Open Door Project in an effort to creatively dispel those fears and focus on community policing at a grassroots level. His programs are designed to empower the residents of Skid Row and create real change and impact.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
17:50

English subtitles

Revisions