Shooting Down Mental Illness
Written by Ronald Coulson, Posted on
What is a police officer to do?
A growing problem.
Whatever happened to officers trying to talk down a person exhibiting odd behavior? Are our law enforcement officers not getting the training they use to, or are they ignoring it altogether? People can’t help but wonder after so many amatuer videos, and reports, of police officers shooting “suspects” have gone viral over the past couple of years. What makes them viral is what people view as excessive force in situations that require very minimal force if at all.
Often the person shot is not in the right state of mind, or is clearly suffering from a mental illness. While there is no official report of the number of police shootings involving someone who is mentally ill, a review of available reports suggests that half of the roughly estimated 375 to 500 of those shot, suffered from some form of mental illness. (psychcentral.com)
Help isn’t on the way.
There are those that want to place the blame solely on the officers, citing recklessness on their part. People believe the officers either overreact to a situation, or they lack compassion and understanding. While these beliefs might hold some truth, I find it hard to believe it could be true for all cases. I think what startles me more, is the fact that there are a lot of mentally ill people out there not getting the treatment they need.
There was an incident recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a homeless man by the name of James Boyd, was shot and killed. James had a history of mental illness, and as the officers gave him orders, he perceived a different reality. He was quoted saying, “Don’t attempt to give me, the Department of Defense, another directive.” Police officers reported that he pulled out two knives, and threatened them. (nytimes.com)
If people are not getting the help they need, then who is really at fault? States who cut cut the mental health budget? Possibly, or could it be family members who are unable to, or worse, unwilling to take care of their family member with a mental illness? I don’t know - and honestly I don’t care - because playing the blame game isn’t going to solve the problem.
What can we do?
Anxietypanichealth.com reports there are an estimated 744,000 people who are homeless on any given night, 40 to 45 percent of them have a serious mental illness. If we can recognize that almost half of them are homeless, then why are we not able to help them. Does it really come down to funding? If so, then should it not fall upon our shoulders to make sure that our tax money, money we have to pay into the system, is used in a way to fight this problem?
