In the midst of chaos, Lt. Craig Levesque struck a casual conversation with the armed man inside the building.
The man’s mother called 911 minutes early on April 13 to report that her son was suicidal and armed with a gun. Levesque was now tasked with calling the man’s cell phone and quickly trying to deescalate the situation.
Around him, neighbors were being evacuated. Streets surrounding the Pine Street house had been blocked off. Other Concord police officers were stationed at the entrances and exits of the building.
Despite the high stakes, Levesque started a line of questioning reminiscent of dinner party small talk. What do you do for work? What conflict are you having with your boss?
“I’m too close to retiring but tell me about that, because I’ve actually thought about that for a second retirement job,” Levesque recalled saying.
By the end of the 10-minute phone call, Levesque had reached common ground and leveraged it to convince the man to come outside without the gun.
Concord Police Deputy Chief Steve Smagula said the episode was an example of a police officer expertly deescalating a mental health crisis.
“You really have to find that common ground and then just have a normal conversation with them,” he said. “It could be chaos, but your ability to have that normal conversation could make the difference.”
By 10:23 p.m., just 14 minutes after the initial 911 call came in, the man was on his way to Concord Hospital for psychiatric treatment. It was a successful end to an otherwise difficult and dangerous situation for all involved.
Many mental health crises, especially when the person is armed, do not end with a peaceful resolution. In New Hampshire, more than 60% of the people killed by police in the last decade struggled with mental illness, according to a Monitor analysis based on 10 years and more than 30 Attorney General reports.
In New Hampshire, police officers are likely the first — and sometimes the only — response to those in a psychiatric crisis. In Concord, this is especially true, due to its proximity to the only state-run psychiatric hospital and the men’s and women’s prisons, Smagula said.
“We don’t — by any stretch of the imagination — want to be the tip of the spear for the mental health system,” he said. “But on that particular night, we’re the ones that get the call.”
Smagula said the resolution was due in part to good training — in recent years many police departments, including Concord PD have sent their officers to crisis intervention team training, a program designed to teach first responders how to handle mental health emergencies.
As of December, 231 state and local officers of the estimated 3,084 full-time, certified officers in New Hampshire have completed CIT training by the National Alliance on Mental Illness NH, and many more have been trained through community mental health centers. More than $200,000 has been set aside in the 2022-23 state budget to expand core and refresher classes.
Crisis intervention instructors teach officers to slow their interactions down, keep their voices calm, and avoid sudden movements that could startle or aggravate. The hope is that if officers can diffuse crises, both injuries to police and injuries to people with mental illness inflicted by police will decline.
Levesque is also part of a special operations unit in the department that completed crisis negotiation team training, which he said uses many of the same strategies for de-escalation.
Concord PD Deputy Chief Steve Smagula said the officers were also lucky that the man was cooperative.
“Being good is one thing, but being lucky is another,” he said. “This one ended so well because at 10:23, the involved person decided to put the gun down and wanted to get some help.”
Just a year earlier, Levesque was one of six officers who fired at Anthony Hannon following 10-hour standoff in Pittsfield. Hannon, who had a prior criminal record, was in a mental health crisis and shot at police.
Shortly before Hannon and officers exchanged gunfire, he texted a close friend: “I’m sorry I’m not wanting to live anymore,” according to a media interview.
“Those are the two opposite extremes,” Levesque said. “He made his decision, which forced us to make our decisions.”