A new alliance of mental health advocacy groups wants a seat at the table in the court's review of the city of Portland's four-year old settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice stemming from police use of excessive force against people with mental illness.

The alliance was formed in July and is made up of Disability Rights Oregon, the Mental Health Association of Portland and Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare. The groups cite their experience and expertise as direct service providers to people with mental illness.

"There is no focused voice from the mental health community currently in these proceedings, and without this community's participation... the current arrangement will continue to victimize Portlanders with mental illness when they interact with the Portland Police Bureau,'' wrote Juan C. Chavez, a lawyer with the Oregon Justice Resource Center's civil rights project, on behalf of the alliance in a petition to U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon.

The new Mental Health Alliance quoted from a transcript from a prior hearing before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon , in which the judge said anyone is welcome to file a petition for amicus status in the settlement case between the city of Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice.

The city's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice called for reforms to police training, policies and oversight after a 2012 federal investigation found Portland police engaged in excessive force against people who have or are perceived to have a mental illness. Investigators also found that police improperly used stun guns against suspects. A federal judge approved the agreement in 2014.

In its petition to the court, the alliance cited ongoing police shootings of people with mental illness since the 2014 settlement was approved, the lack of sufficient drop-off or walk-in centers for people in crisis and the absence for more than a year of meaningful community oversight.

Their request specifically cited the April police fatal shooting of John A. Elifritz in a Southeast Portland homeless shelter after his afternoon-long crime spree as an example of the "failures'' of putting the settlement reforms into effect.

Despite Elifritz demonstrating clear signs of mental distress, at no point in the day or night of his encounters with officers did police have a specially-trained officer from its Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team respond, the alliance noted.

A pending lawsuit alleges police stormed into the shelter with AR-15 rifles and a police dog and used excessive force against Elifritz, who his family says was experiencing a mental health crisis and posed no threat to the officers.

Elifritz, a suspect in a carjacking, had burst into the CityTeam Ministries shelter on Southeast Grand Avenue, armed with a knife on April 7.

Earlier on April 7, Elifritz had called 911 to report that his wife and children were murdered, but police checked and learned that his family was OK. At that time, officers saw Elifritz holding a knife to his throat and he ran from them. Officers chose to let him go. They planned to refer him to officers in the bureau's Behavioral Health Unit for a follow-up, but none responded that day. Soon after, Elifritz was suspected in an attempted carjacking and then a successful carjacking, a road-rage encounter and the crash of a stolen car before he entered the shelter. By the time he entered the shelter, emergency dispatchers and police had identified the man with the knife as Elifritz.

The alliance also cited the disbanding of a community oversight advisory board more than a year ago as another "failure'' of the settlement. Eighteen months later, its replacement has yet to hold a meeting, it noted.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who serves as police commissioner, said he intends to select members to sit on a new panel called the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing, possibly as early as Tuesday. The committee will hold a retreat and training sessions before it 's first meeting in November.

Since the settlement was approved, the $53 million Unity Behavioral Health Center, which opened in Northeast Portland as a psychiatric emergency room and drop-off crisis center in January 2017, remains under investigation over serious patient safety concerns.

"The Alliance's clients and peers have a life and death interest in the proper implementation of the decree...events indicate not only that the use of police violence against people with mental illness continues, but that the goal of creating an improved and sustained partnership between people with mental illness and public officials has stalled,'' the alliance's petition says

According to the alliance, the U.S. Department of Justice hasn't taken a position on the alliance's request, but the city of Portland and Portland Police Association are opposed to its formal involvement in the settlement.

The Albina Ministerial Alliance's Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, which successfully obtained a friend of the court seat in the case, doesn't represent people with mental illness, the new alliance contends. The coalition doesn't oppose the alliance's push to join the coalition at the table, according to court documents.

Such amicus curie status would allow the Mental Health Alliance to present written briefs to the court on issues that arise in the settlement, participate in oral arguments in court and, if the parties are involved in any mediation efforts, it would participate in those discussions.

Bob Joondeph, executive director of Disability Rights Oregon, said police must be given better alternatives "to keep people out of a cycle of meaningless arrest, punishment and release,'' and advocates for adequate behavioral health and housing services for people suffering from mental health problems.

"It's time for agencies who care about the welfare of people with mental illness – and addiction – to help courts determine the full implementation of the settlement agreement,'' said Jason Renaud, board secretary of the Mental Health Association of Portland.

All parties to the agreement are set to return before the federal judge at 9 a.m. on Oct. 4 for a status conference.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian