BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer

University Hospital's policy regarding "police holds" of mentally ill patients such as Lorenzo Collins states that the police agencies bringing the patient to the hospital are responsible for security, if necessary.

But a copy of the policy obtained by The Enquirer shortly after Mr. Collins' death does not address security of a mentally ill patient who is under a police hold while being confined to the hospital's eighth floor, a secured psychiatric ward.

Many local police leaders said Thursday it is their understanding that the hospital is responsible for watching over a suspect confined to the locked ward. Mr. Collins was placed in that ward when he was taken to the hospital after exhibiting irrational behavior following an arrest on a theft charge.

Mr. Collins escaped from the ward - his third escape in three months - on Feb. 23 and was later shot to death after threatening police officers with a brick. The actions of police have been heavily scrutinized since the shooting, but how Mr. Collins was able to leave what is considered a secured area has drawn little attention.

University Hospital has refused to talk about the incident. Hospital attorney Gary Harris, citing pending litigation, refused to comment on Mr. Collins' escape, or on hospital procedures regarding mental patients or police holds.

The hospital is a defendant in a $10 million civil suit filed by Mr. Collins' family.

The locked psychiatric unit has security cameras. University Police usually station about 12 officers or security personnel throughout the hospital per shift.

"Something went wrong," said Bill Farnsworth, president of the International Association for Health Care Security and Safety. "Either the staff wasn't looking or something wasn't locked."

Mental health experts say most mentally ill patients are not violent and are in the hospital voluntarily. Only a few are under police supervision. While University's mental ward is a locked facility, it is not necessarily locked down to serve as a jail for those in custody.

Mr. Farnsworth said that security standards for hospital accreditation only require that a security plan be in place, and that hospitals are left to determine the extent of security.

Police officers who bring in a suspect can stay with the person or request a "police hold," which notifies University Police that the suspect is on the premises, and asks that the police agency be notified when treatment is complete.

When Springdale Police took Mr. Collins to University Hospital Feb. 22 for psychiatric evaluation - "he just wasn't acting right," Chief James Freland said - a "police hold" document was filed as required.

"I believe it (security) is then the responsibility of the person responsible for the facility," he said. "That is normal business."

Several other police leaders echoed Chief Freland.

"I would not leave an officer there if I was under the impression this person was going to be locked down," said Chief Steve Vollmar of the Forest Park Police Department. "We don't have the resources to waste a man like that."

He said his department would post a guard at the hospital if the suspect was dangerous and capable of escaping - such as it did with Charles Orr, a man who beat his wife to death in October of 1994.

Cincinnati Police policy says that police supervisors are responsible for deciding if a prisoner should be guarded while at a hospital. The policies state that "supervisors should normally limit decisions to guard prisoners to felony arrests and base the decision upon the prisoner's physical condition."

The policies also stipulate that when a prisoner is being treated at University Hospital, officers are to fill out a "holder" form, notify University Police and ask for a phone call notifying them that a prisoner is ready for discharge.

Col. Dan Wolfangel, spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, said security arrangements often depend on who the prisoner is and what is the risk of danger or violence.

"There's not a cut-and-dried answer, each situation has to be looked at on its own merits," he said.

He said his officers are told to discuss police holds with a hospital's security staff. If his department thinks it is necessary, a guard is left behind.

"In a locked ward, that pretty much is the hospital's responsibility," he said.

Norwood Police Chief Tim Brown agreed. He said his department doesn't normally stay with someone under a police hold, or a "psychiatric hold."

"If a person is under arrest, we are normally notified by the hospital when we can pick them up," he said. "When it is just a psychiatric hold, we don't stay there with them. We stay there long enough to get the psychiatric hold and then we leave."

RADIO LINKS ERRATIC IN COLLINS CHASE

Previous stories

POLICE SUMMARY OF THEIR INVESTIGATION May 29, 1997
DIAGRAM OF THE SHOOTING SCENE May 29, 1997
NINE MINUTES OF CONFUSION: THE SHOOTING OF LORENZO COLLINS May 27, 1997
DIAGRAM RECONSTRUCTING THE EVENTS May 27, 1997
TRAINING, POLICIES AND POLICE ACTION May 27, 1997
WHY DID THE COPS KILL LORENZO? Peter Bronson column, May 25, 1997
BORGMAN CARTOON May 25, 1997
PUSH FOR POLICE REVIEW FEARED May 9, 1997
FBI TO REVIEW COLLINS CASE May 8, 1997
MARCHERS VOW SEASON OF DISRUPTIONS May 5, 1997
PROSECUTORS GET REPORT ON FATAL SHOOTING April 29, 1997
SHOOTING PROTESTERS ALLEGE POLICE BRUTALITY April 17, 1997
DEMONSTRATORS CITE SHOOTING OF MENTAL PATIENT March 24, 1997
BAPTIST MINISTERS PROTEST AGAINST POLICE March 20, 1997
LAWSUIT SEEKS $5 MILLION March 13, 1997
PUNISH POLICE, MARCHERS URGE March 5, 1997
FATAL SHOOTING CONCERNS COMMUNITY March 2, 1997
PROBE: POLICE FIRED FOUR SHOTS AT MAN WITH BRICK Feb. 25, 1997
MAN SHOT BY POLICE AFTER CHASE Feb. 24, 1997