A reader responds to our April 6 story, “U. of C. police shooting came at time of increased stops, continued disparities.”
Are the police truly “inadequate and inappropriate” first responders? Many calls to 911 are for issues with the mentally ill. Officers do the best that they can with the situation they are presented with. Not every single encounter is going to go well. No one is more concerned with the mental health crisis than the officers on the street who deal with it on a daily basis.
So what did I see on that video? The suspect was clearly a danger to himself and others. Does someone in that state of mind suddenly become “OK” and stop their actions? No. They need to be detained and evaluated.
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The suspect in this situation did not stop once he saw the officer. If the officer deployed a taser and the barbs did not make contact with the suspect’s skin, there wouldn’t be enough time for the officer to move out of the way of the suspect’s swinging metal stake. With one swing that officer could be incapacitated and the suspect would have access to his service weapon.
In this case the officer complied with use of force guidelines: He gave the suspect several verbal commands which the suspect did not obey; he disengaged from the suspect, but the suspect followed. The suspect had a deadly weapon in his hand and he had target acquisition. Deadly force was justified. That does not mean the officer wanted to shoot the suspect who was clearly not in his right mind. That does not mean the officer doesn’t wish there was another option. And that does not mean that the officer is ok with what the suspect forced him to do.
Twenty years ago, there were quadruple the number of facilities to house the mentally ill. As those facilities closed, more mentally ill found themselves living on the street. The lucky ones moved in with family members. But most families are not equipped to care for their mentally ill loved ones.
This is not strictly a police problem. Nor is it only a mental health problem. It’s society’s problem. Society needs to come together to work on a solution. This situation is no one’s fault and everyone’s responsibility.
—-Twenty years ago, there were quadruple the
number of facilities to house the mentally ill.
There is a world of significance in your word
choices, “house” and “the” mentally ill.
Yes, we “housed” people in institutions, and did little more than that.
I would avoid “the” mentally ill for the same reason I would avoid “the”
Blacks.
The main culprit is the ACLU and their twisted ideas about freedom and government. In the 1970s the ACLU sued everybody on earth and got all the mental cases let loose on the streets and the mental hospitals closed. Reason-to protect the rights of the nuts to roam the streets. They ruined communities like Uptown in Chicago by over running the community with mentally ill street people. Now people who thought the ACLU is good for the country are suffering the results.