Under a state law that goes in effect today, hospitals are required to notify law-enforcement agencies once mental-health patients are released from care if they have an arrest warrant or pending charges against them.
Officials from the Iowa City Police Department and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics said they have maintained this type of cooperative relationship in the past and expect it to be an easy adjustment.
“I assume things will continue to go just as smooth,” said Iowa City police Sgt. Denise Brotherton. “I don’t foresee any issues.”
The Ed Thomas Bill, signed by Gov. Chet Culver on March 24, is named after the beloved football coach for Aplington-Parkersburg High School who was murdered one year ago in Parkersburg by one of his former football players, Mark Becker.
Becker was released from a psychiatric ward at a Waterloo hospital one day before the killing. Although he had a criminal record, the police who sent him to the hospital were not notified.
With this new system in place, law-enforcement officials can now either request a court order or fill out a new form from the Iowa Department of Public Safety to let the hospital know that they wish to be notified before a patient with a warrant is released, Brotherton said.
The treatment teams caring for the patients will be the ones to make the necessary notifications to the police before allowing release, said UI spokesman Tom Moore.
Rep. Dolores Mertz, D-Otteson — who supported the bill — said hopes law enforcement and hospitals will successfully work together.
“I think it’s something we needed to do,” she said. “It should help other families to prevent this type of thing from happening again in the community.”
Phillip Resnick, a psychiatrist from Cleveland, testified in Becker’s trial after determining Becker was schizophrenic. He said he does not see a downside to the bill, but he is not confident it would have been able to prevent Ed Thomas’ slaying.
“It’s very hard to know,” he said. “I think it’s likely that the same thing could have happened a month later [after Becker’s release].”
Resnick is optimistic the bill will be helpful, but he does not think it can be a completely preventative measure.
“I think it may help in some cases,” he said. “There’s no way to know absolutely.”
Brotherton said the police are the only entity that can require people to enter a mental institution. Once police send someone, the person can be only be held there for 48 hours. It is up to the hospital personnel whether to keep the patient any longer depending on their evaluation.
“The jail can’t handle people with psychotic episodes,” Brotherton said. “They need to get treatment before jail.”