By Jean Semelfort
On Friday, March 3, 2023, we witnessed the fatal result of the Paterson Police department’s stubbornness to allow the appropriate professionals to assist Najee Seabrooks. Disheartened by the killing of community activist, father, brother, and beloved Patersonian, I could not help but wonder how the public would interpret the bodycam footage released by the NJ Attorney General’s office.
Watching the footage with over 15 years of experience in the field of mental health, I realized that the average person witnessing this situation would have a drastically different perspective.
In fact, the first interpretation I believe most citizens would have is that the responding officers were civil. Problematically believing civility to be effective and enough in situations like these.
Civility, considerate and/or polite expressions that can be displayed through verbal and physical means is a noun that in many different contexts can contribute towards cultivating welcoming interactions and creating inviting spaces.
For instance, as a Black Haitian American man growing up in Newark in moments when accidentally invading someone’s space “pardon me” or “excuse me” is an expected response. When entering someone’s home, the removal of one’s shoes once you are at the doorway can be a common courtesy and practice.
Civility, like many other things, can vary in its perception and expression, oftentimes taking different shapes based on the social variables it is operating in. Still, civility’s potency and limitations are defined by the confounds before it, mandating a need for it to be paired with something else in order for a safe environment to exist.
For instance, in mental health crises, it is dangerous to believe that solely utilizing polite expressions — such as offering water — will jolt someone out of their psychotic break turning them into a compliant respondent.
The Paterson PD were convinced that their kind and gentle words, although matched with contradictory actions, and paired with their identification as law enforcement, would magically break Najee Seabrooks out of his delusion/paranoia.
Persuaded that their civility would somehow dissipate his need for trained crisis interventionists to safely support him through his mental health emergency, Najee did not receive the help that he deserved.
As a licensed mental health clinician tied to many folks operating within subsets of the field of psychology — particularly spaces that deal with crisis scenarios like Seabrooks’ — many would tell you everything was not done to preserve his life and get him the appropriate care needed.
Instead, what can be observed in the bodycam videos released by the NJ Attorney General’s office, are moments of escalation by Paterson PD officers present, refusal to provide Seabrooks with the things requested, and actions that did not align with what was verbalized by some of the officers engaging in discussion with him.
Seabrooks needed adequate mental health and emotional help. What he received, was a script that can be commonly found in movies involving hostage negotiations, like “we are here to help you” while guns are drawn.
There tends to be a general fear of those having a psychotic break. This fear combined with violent stigmas perpetually placed on Black men, are placed in a position to impossibly manage our crisis so that we can safely receive help, as Najee can be found stating to the officers “You are not even asking the right questions.”
Erroneously, civility might be perceived as trauma-informed and person-centered, when in actuality, it operates as neither. While some of the officers at the scene can be seen as polite, even-tempered, and genuinely there to help, they were not equipped to deal with Seabrook’s mental health crisis and should have allowed those who were to support him.
Seabrooks should be here. Others like him should be here. Mental health has become a buzzword, infiltrating all social media platforms, corporate offices, work policies, politics and more.
The inescapable saturation of mental health concepts, ideas, and theories finding its way into the fabric of our society, yet law enforcement still struggles to not respond violently to emotionally disturbed person cases.
There are many pieces that need to be present in addressing mental health crises, including safety protocols and not putting a time limit on someone’s life. Patience is both a virtue and skill that must exist within every person operating within the helping profession, particularly first responders. It allows users to take the time needed to carefully assess the possible outcomes and fitting solutions.
We continue to do a disservice to our communities by operating under the illusion that civil, mild-mannered law enforcement is enough. It is not.
Jean Semelfort Jr., MA, LPC, is a psychotherapist and founder of the C.A.C.T.U.S. Center in Montclair, New Jersey.
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