
What to Do When Someone Is Having a Mental Health Crisis on the Street - molecule
http://brokeassstuart.com/blog/2016/02/18/what-to-do-when-someone-is-having-a-mental-health-crisis-on-the-street/
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err4nt
> And unfortunately that’s often how it is with the American police. They are
> trained in ending crisis situations forcefully, but there isn’t enough
> training in how to deescalate them so that no one gets hurt or killed.

It's a sad commentary when the police can't do police work without killing the
people they are supposed to be protecting.

The other obvious choice I would think would be to call the paramedics! Is
there some reason that a person having this kind of a crisis shouldn't have an
ambulance called?

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Kadin
> The other obvious choice I would think would be to call the paramedics! Is
> there some reason that a person having this kind of a crisis shouldn't have
> an ambulance called?

In a lot of jurisdictions you'll get both with the same call if it's a mental-
health crisis. The dividing line between what's a "police" matter and what's
an "EMS" matter varies. Generally in the US (at least in places where I've
lived), EMS can offer to take you to the hospital, but, broadly, they can't
take someone who doesn't want to go. Compelling someone to go to the hospital
who doesn't want to go is often a judicial matter devolved to the police, with
all the attendant problems (e.g. high-velocity lead poisoning) that involving
the police carries.

What we really need more widely in the US are some sort of cross-functional
"mental health crisis responders" who are mainly medical (rather than law-
enforcement) personnel, but are given just enough of the necessary police
powers to legally compel a person presenting a threat to themselves or others
to go to the hospital if it's necessary. That would allow the police to remain
uninvolved in a large percentage of routine mental-health emergencies.

It is ironic that the movie / Broadway trope of having "men in white suits
with nets" come after you if you start acting funny is actually better than
the current situation that exists, where you run a good risk of being shot
with impunity.

~~~
err4nt
Please fix your police! The role you describe being needed IS the reason
police exist at all.

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ksenzee
This is great information for those of you in San Francisco. I'd love to see a
similar list for other large cities.

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cylinder
Shame these aren't the articles that go viral.

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13thLetter
What we _actually_ do is ignore it until we encounter someone complaining
about it, and then harass them on social media for their insensitivity.

