If there’s one area where public health and law enforcement intersect, it has to be dealing with what most law enforcement professionals know as “EDPs.” EDP, for the unindoctrinated, stands for “emotionally disturbed person.” They represent both a massive drain on public safety resources and sometimes a serious threat to those they come in contact with – particularly police officers. If there is one area where budget cuts are sure to have hugely negative consequences for the law enforcement community and the cities and towns they serve and protect, it’s the loss of beds and treatment for the mentally ill.

Facing tough choices due to the economy, Boone Hospital Center in Missouri closed its psychiatric ward last summer, and Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center consolidated bed space shortly thereafter.

The cuts resulted in 26 fewer local mental health beds.

“We didn’t have enough bed space to begin with,” Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Krohn told the St. Louis Tribune in a recent interview.

“It’s a nationwide epidemic. We’re not alone in this.” Police are usually responsible for taking patients to other mental health facilities when bed space is not available locally.

And the miles tend to add up. Last year, Boone County deputies traveled almost 14,000 miles to take patients to hospitals and similar facilities.

If a patient is in police custody and the only available psychiatric bed is in St. Louis, two deputies taking that patient represent “eight man-hours that aren’t available to the residents for law enforcement in Boone County,” Krohn said.

Those miles and man-hours will likely increase  even further due to the recent budget cuts.

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