slight smile of encouragement on her lips, caused his racing heart to slow and his nerves to settle.
“The reason I’m here is...” He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. Looked around the room. Then finally met her gaze again. “Well, this is a crisis center. And I’m in crisis. I need help.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE PRESS CONFERENCE at the SFPD began at 4:00 p.m. sharp and was in full swing when Simon and Nina arrived at 4:15 just as Stevens had requested. “Given Davenport’s claims, I don’t want to give the press a chance to go after Nina, but I do want her to speak briefly about the MHIT training.”
“Commander,” a reporter spoke now, directing the crowd’s attention to Commander Stevens. Simon recognized the man as an investigative reporter on the evening news. He thrust a microphone in front of Stevens’s face. “Lester Davenport has filed suit against the city. This is the third lawsuit brought against the SFPD in as many weeks. Since the DOJ has jurisdiction over all law enforcement in California, can you respond to the sudden spate of lawsuits?”
“Of course,” he said. “We at the DOJ take our jobs seriously, as does the SFPD. Like you, we are always concerned about the well-being of any person accused of a crime. In America, people are innocent until proven guilty. At no point during the arrest, trial or incarceration should anyone be treated unfairly.”
“What about the way SFPD has been treating the mentally ill?” the reporter pressed. “We’re hearing more and more about how SFPD officers are mishandling calls when someone is suicidal or delusional. How more police brutality shows up in incidents of arrests with a mentally ill person than an arrest of citizens without compromised mental health.”
“Although I cannot comment on any ongoing lawsuits,” Stevens stated, “I can say that we have an ongoing study being performed to evaluate the actions police make when undertaking an arrest. We’ve been working with a psychiatrist, an impartial observer, to determine if the SFPD needs specialized training in how to effectively communicate with the mentally ill.”
“Is this the same psychiatrist that Davenport has alleged is having an affair with one of your officers?”
“Davenport has made several claims, all of which are false. Dr. Whitaker helped us save a child, and there’s plenty of press coverage on that. I believe you wrote an article about it yourself, Artie. As to whether she’s dating one of my officers, her personal life isn’t at issue here. She’s an independent contractor, not a city employee, and she’s extremely good at her job. We’re lucky to be working with her.”
As soon as the direction of the conversation had turned toward Nina and Davenport’s claims against her, Simon had stiffened up.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. She met Stevens’s gaze and nodded, telling him that she was ready to speak.
“Now, Dr. Whitaker is here and has agreed to briefly speak with the press. She is here only to talk about the new program she’s advocating. Keep your questions limited to that or we’ll be forced to end the press conference early.”
Nina glanced at Simon, smiled reassuringly and stepped forward, directly in front of the microphone. As she looked into the small gathering of reporters, she thought, Lord, I’d rather be anywhere else than here—heck, getting a Brazilian wax would be less tortuous than staring at this crowd of rabble-rousing reporters. But Commander Stevens had set the stage, and she needed to take action.
“Here goes nothing,” she murmured under her breath and leaned closer to the microphone. The first thing she did was explain how she’d been instrumental to the Mental Health Intervention Team becoming established with the Charleston P.D. She ran through the main objectives of the program and the successes they’d encountered since the program began. “Now,” she continued, “as a psychiatrist working with the SF Memorial Hospital Mental Health Division, I independently approached Commander Stevens about my desire to start a similar program here. He was very open to the idea of the program, and suggested I shadow one of his detectives in order to gather detailed information about how officers were handling encounters with the mentally ill, which would enable me to make subsequent recommendations. My observations have led me to believe that the SFPD does indeed have the basic skills to both successfully recognize when individuals are symptomatic and to handle these calls with respect and finesse. However, basic skills can always be built upon. As such, I am recommending that the