Vermont Business Magazine After a nearly five-hour police standoff, Ralph “Phil” Grenon was shot and killed by a Burlington police officer. He reportedly lunged at police with two knives. The shooting of a 76-year old man, who many have said had mental health issues, has generated a public outcry. Perhaps it was Mr. Grenon’s age, or perhaps it was his mental state, but opinions about the incident have been diverse and passionate. Some believe police officers acted precipitously, unnecessarily killing a person experiencing a mental health crisis when other means of resolving the standoff could have been deployed. Others feel police acted prudently by using force to protect themselves from a man lunging toward them with knives.
First off, let’s reject the notion that police officers are generally trigger-happy gunslingers who show up at a scene and revel in the opportunity to draw their weapons and kill another human being. That’s simply not the case. In this particular instance the video recording from a camera the officer was wearing will eventually reveal what exactly took place that evening.
While the investigation into the shooting proceeds, there are other troubling questions that should be answered. These questions won’t bring back Mr. Grenon, but they could prevent tragedies like these in the future. What happened in the days or weeks leading up to this event? In this instance — when dealing with a person having a mental health crisis and who is wielding knives — once the police were called, there were only a few likely outcomes: A peaceable arrest; the ill man hurts or kills himself; hurts or kills others; or police hurt, wound or kill him. In this case, three out of four of these possible outcomes end badly.
Certainly police protocol for these instances should be designed and continuously tested in training so it is improved and ultimately de-escalates a situation. Law enforcement officers have an obligation to make prevention or a peaceful resolution the top priority, after ensuring the broader public safety.
But what was the response to this mental health crisis before police arrived? Perhaps more importantly: How do we make it better? The shooting is a horrible tragedy and will be investigated. However, we must also investigate and come to understand what events preceded that critical point when police were called. It’s the only way to take lessons from the tragedy and move forward in ways that reduce the risk of this occurring again.
Given Mr. Grenon’s condition, what was our social services system’s — not just the mental health providers — response before police were needed? Why was there an eviction in progress at a time when someone was experiencing a clinical crisis? Where was his family? Were they engaged and supporting Mr. Grenon?
The reason to ask these questions is not to place blame — that doesn’t serve a meaningful purpose at this point. The reason for asking these questions is to determine if there was a point where a different intervention, a different approach, could have resulted in a better outcome.
Answers to these questions can highlight improvements not only for the Burlington Police Department and Chittenden County mental health advocates but also for the state’s social services system.
Police departments throughout the state should be required to review this incident as well. They certainly have lessons from their own experience that would benefit this discussion.
In the end, we are fortunate to have excellent women and men who serve in our police departments. They are dedicated to protecting our communities and our rights. Police officers have a demanding task and an overwhelming majority of them are extraordinary professionals.
For those who live with mental illness, we must assure them that help is out there and that they will be protected and treated and cared for. This tragedy clearly illustrates that there is a hole in our safety net. Let’s all learn what we can and use that knowledge to help strengthen our social services systems. We owe that to Mr. Grenon as well as to our law enforcement officers.
Mike Smith was the secretary of administration and secretary of human services under former Gov. James Douglas. He is the host of the radio program, “Open Mike with Mike Smith,” on WDEV. He is also a political analyst for WCAX-TV and WVMT radio and is a regular contributor to The Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Business Magazine.