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100% agree. When people say “defund the police” this is generally what they mean. Take a sizable chunk of their budget and create/support these types of programs.

If someone is behaving erratically and it can't be ascertained whether they are concealing a weapon, how do we keep mental health experts safe?

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>Herman Whitfield III was having a mental health crisis. While he had never received a mental health diagnosis – to his parents’ knowledge –he had experienced recent episodes where he’d become disoriented. His mother said they’d been able to calm him down.

We need to start taking mental health crises more seriously. He should've gotten help before the police needed to be called.

Stories like this are why I'm afraid to seek psychiatric treatment.

The longer you go untreated the higher the chances you will have a negative interaction with police.

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Often, the state's response is that they can't do anything until the person poses an imminent threat to the physical safety of themselves or others.

And the gap between "poses an imminent threat" and "has committed a crime" is extremely narrow. By the time the former is recognized, the latter has often occurred. And that's what brings the police response.

There's been attempts to expand the scope of "pre-threat" intervention (eg, CA's new CARE law, Ricky's Law in WA), but they face stiff opposition by civil libertarian groups like the ACLU.

• State of CA: Community Assistance, Recovery & Empowerment Act

• ACLU California: WHY WE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE THE GOVERNOR’S “CARE COURT” PROPOSAL — AND SO SHOULD YOU

• State of WA: Ricky’s Law: Involuntary Treatment Act

• ACLU Washington: Infringement of personal liberty within the civil commitment system

I was thinking more that his family could've encouraged him to seek out a diagnosis, even if they'd been able to calm him down.

Raise your hand if your actually fucking over reading headlines like this. Day in and day out a new story of someone being wrongfully murdered and nothing happens from it. This world is so fucked and the people here to “protect” us…..kill us. Nice job USA! I’m proud to be American /s

Do seek mental health treatment, before you find yourself in crisis.

Yes. Denver's already doing exactly what you said. It's working well. Here's an article on it from the Denver Post.

Get help to avoid emergency problems.

Yes but the rest of the state is still fucked. We're in the four corners area and my wife had a panic attack 4 years ago. She was arrested and spent 5 fucking days locked up without her essential medicine. She was 62 when this happened.

"System failures" is a weird way to spell "murdered by police".

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We need to develop an approach to mentally ill people in distress that does not involved the police. All of these incidents establish that the police throughout the US are not equipped to deal with people suffering from mental illnesses.

Stories like this are exactly why you should seek treatment. You can treat it early, or let it devolve to a state where someone calls the cops, and then you’re at their mercy.

Yeah, I am fed up. Fuck the cops, they're a bunch of murdering bastards

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I can understand why someone would feel that way. Getting help isn’t easy, and options that are there for some people aren’t there for others. Mental health care can offer profound help but finding the right path is not a simple task. I wish you the best.

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No she was in jail. There's no psychological help down here. She was never put in a cell to have a pallet to sleep or sit on because they expected her to have a seizure due to Taki g her off medication abruptly.

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