N
Nomad
Guest
Right this second, I'm a little shook up. I went to a NAMI meeting about a week ago. The president said she was recently called to testify on a case re: the above subject and couldn't talk about it much. I am aware that there have been a lot of deaths in my area. Police shootings of the mentally ill. I wasn't aware of one very recently...but then again...I have been avoiding the paper for perhaps a month. I do know that the police can be trained on the proper way to approach the mentally ill and to work with families, etc. In fact, I am looking into taking a related training with- NAMI.
Today, I picked up the paper (after about a month of not reading it and got the shock of my life). One headline "Police shoot, kill homeless man"
First paragraph says that an "agitated" homeless man near a homeless shelter was "unfazed" by a stun gun and because the man was approacing the officer with a broken bottle, the officer shot him dead. This happened last night.
In another article, there is a photo of a mother crying hysterically. Her son was shot dead on Monday, during a warrant arrest. He was 17 and may have tried to grab the gun of one of the officers and/or tried to use a bat on one of them.
I don't want to make this political...honestly, these officers risk their lives and deserve to protect themselves. But I did notice, that the articles did not mention whether or not the officers received specialized training to work with the mentally ill.
IN addition, at the NAMI meeting, one woman there (it was heartbreaking) had a son with a severe disorder and when she called for help...she wanted him committed...the police caused the situation to escalate...he hit his father....and then they arrested him and threw him in jail.
I'm going to call the NAMI president to see what further information I can get and to see when the next training I can get might be with- reference to myself.
I think it is hearbreaking that the mentally ill don't have better access to therapy and/or hospitals. And it is sick that in many cases, our jails are where they end up because there are no resources available. It it is now easiest to put them there and often they are made worse by the situation and forgotten. (sometimes for a long time).
Today, I picked up the paper (after about a month of not reading it and got the shock of my life). One headline "Police shoot, kill homeless man"
First paragraph says that an "agitated" homeless man near a homeless shelter was "unfazed" by a stun gun and because the man was approacing the officer with a broken bottle, the officer shot him dead. This happened last night.
In another article, there is a photo of a mother crying hysterically. Her son was shot dead on Monday, during a warrant arrest. He was 17 and may have tried to grab the gun of one of the officers and/or tried to use a bat on one of them.
I don't want to make this political...honestly, these officers risk their lives and deserve to protect themselves. But I did notice, that the articles did not mention whether or not the officers received specialized training to work with the mentally ill.
IN addition, at the NAMI meeting, one woman there (it was heartbreaking) had a son with a severe disorder and when she called for help...she wanted him committed...the police caused the situation to escalate...he hit his father....and then they arrested him and threw him in jail.
I'm going to call the NAMI president to see what further information I can get and to see when the next training I can get might be with- reference to myself.
I think it is hearbreaking that the mentally ill don't have better access to therapy and/or hospitals. And it is sick that in many cases, our jails are where they end up because there are no resources available. It it is now easiest to put them there and often they are made worse by the situation and forgotten. (sometimes for a long time).