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Post by Admin on Apr 25, 2016 10:26:32 GMT -4
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Post by Cecilia Frett on Apr 26, 2016 10:11:29 GMT -4
People are fearful of the mentally ill. This is rooted in uncertainty of the person’s behavior. Likewise, police tend to use force and lethal techniques to ensure the safety of themselves (and others) when they feel threatened and fear the actions of a mentally ill individual. The Crisis Intervention Program is an excellent way to educate police about mental illness and provides methods to diffuse violent situations. It allows the police to secure the public without harming or killing the mentally ill. Moreover, it fosters an understanding of what the illness entails and, thus, promotes patience and compassion in tense situations. This is proven to decrease fatal shooting and forceful acquisition of mental ill people. It also helps to honor the civil rights of the ill by not criminalizing them. In my opinion, every judicial department needs to follow suit and establish a Crisis Intervention Program in their area.
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April 25th
Apr 26, 2016 11:41:23 GMT -4
via mobile
Post by Laura Hoppe on Apr 26, 2016 11:41:23 GMT -4
It seems like in recent years the media has exploded with stories in regards to police brutality and tragic events such as shootings at public venues. It seems as though public safety and how it is inforced is in the forefront of most individuals minds. Much of what police officers do on a daily basis is dealing with situations regarding the mentally ill. After reading this article I was shocked to see how law enforcement has changed with the times and how they are learning how to best deal with mentally ill individuals by participating in specific training. Since police officer are under more scrutiny than ever, it has been challenging for law enforcement to find a method that is both beneficial to the suspect and safe for the community. It is enlightening to see law enforcement think outside the box and attempting to handle mentally ill in a manner that doesn't always include a trip to jail or the emergency room. With time I hope the world we live in becomes more tolerant of mental illness and become more equipped to handle their needs in the community.
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Post by Joseph Tosto on Apr 26, 2016 13:00:22 GMT -4
It is difficult for the police or any individual who does not have training in a medical field to understand the vast majority of psychiatric and mental illnesses. The majority of people will feel threatened and afraid around anyone who is not appearing or acting "normal". Cops in particular should have some training in recognizing mental illnesses and medical conditions. It takes specific training, patience, and good recognition to be well suited to handle such situations. Cops should not always have to result in harming the victim when the victim cannot always help themselves and just need to be contained and calmed down instead. If the police force spent a little more time with the concerns of medical conditions there will be a decrease in fatal shooting and harm. Not every mentally ill person deserves to go to jail or to be hospitalized. With time, education, and a different mind set, programs will be implemented to insure the safety of mentally ill people.
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Post by Kelsey G. on Apr 26, 2016 14:19:57 GMT -4
It seems that recently mental illness has been in the media and in the public eye more than in years past. Mental illness has always been a problem in this country and around the world, but it always seemed to be pushed under the rug. Treating individuals with mental illness the same as the general public when it comes to law enforcement can cause significant problems, often leading to the death of someone. I think it is important for law enforcement personnel to be trained and educated about mental illnesses. There are so many types of mental illness, exemplified in different ranges and controlled by numerous medications that not even all medical providers can understand. To have special law enforcement trained to recognize mental illnesses and prevent harm to anyone would be beneficial to many communities. There needs to be an increase in education all around, as many people fail to recognize the importance of mental illness.
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Post by Mario F Vigil on Apr 26, 2016 18:44:40 GMT -4
Education and training in how to deal with mentally ill people is very important for police officers. Familiarity with mental illness is key to eases the fear that it causes, even for police officers. Hopefully, with articles like this one, at least the dialogue can begin and maybe a life or more can be spared. Attempting to disable people with mentally ill using nonviolence or nonlethal means should be the first focus of the training. There is so much to be done in the treatment area but this initiative by Portland is a good start.
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Bisola Fakorede (BF)
Guest
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Post by Bisola Fakorede (BF) on Apr 26, 2016 20:01:11 GMT -4
It is quite saddening when I see on the news that a civilian was shot during a confrontation or incident with the police either due to the civilian's mental instability or race. Unfortunately, many times necessary safety measures and practices aren't adopted until a tragic incident occurs, prompting the reevaluation of certain practices or methods of doing things. Nonetheless I must commend the initiation of the C.I.T program because it is very important for police officers to understand that the people they are dealing with sometimes are human beings that are living with some serious mental medical conditions. The more police officers start to perceive the mentally ill as people who need to be tactfully controlled, most often requiring patience rather than aggression, the less likely unnecessary loss of lives will occur. Hopefully, this program will be adopted in more states and newer as well as better programs will be created.
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Post by Keyvan Amini on Apr 26, 2016 22:31:52 GMT -4
The article posted by Mrs. Goode did a great job of shedding light on the challenges the law enforcement agencies face when dealing with mentally ill individuals who seem to pose a threat to themselves or others in the surrounding. While reading the article, the most important factor that grabbed my attention was not the training put in placed for the officers, but it was the officer's willingness to undergo such training. This willingness, I believe, is the root in seeing such success rate in decreasing law-enforcement related violence. This also takes away the stigma the police officers face as being "brutal, ruthless, heartless, mindless" mainly depicted by social media. Such clarity of officer's role within society will also help reduce the tension officers face from the public, which leads to better judgments made during dire situations where lives are on the line. However, I do not completely agree that the solution ends with training the officers. Even though, it is true that the law enforcement must be mindful of mental illness, it is also the society's job to be trained as a whole. I believe a better monitoring system for mentally ill patients can also help prevent most of the acute mental events, hence reducing the risk of misjudgments committed by officers.
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Post by E.G.N on Apr 27, 2016 11:07:32 GMT -4
This article is very enlightening and I think is a step forward in the right direction of how the police handle the mentally ill. The Crisis Intervention training being introduced could be very helpful if implemented in all the states. The police officers need to be educated in mental illness and to also recognize some classic symptoms of some mental diseases could go a long way in saving lives. I am personally glad that something is actually been done about this and more help is definitely needed in terms of transition from the ER or jail to getting adequate mental care.
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Post by Tanu Thakur on Apr 27, 2016 11:11:02 GMT -4
This is an article that has made me think into great depth of how mentally ill patients can get treated by the police authorities and law. It is a commendable job as far as the police goes to train for crisis training. Not all mentally ill patients would understand what is happening and might react in a different way than other people do in times of stress. I also think that there needs to be a major culture shift by making civilians aware as to how to react with a mentally ill aggressive patient.The job of understanding them should just not be dumped on the police. As this topic builds up another issue that slowly comes up is how should a mentally ill person be convicted and must be discussed too.
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Post by Vincent Fang on Apr 27, 2016 12:01:29 GMT -4
The general public do not have much knowledge towards mental illness and as a result they are afraid of such patients and react poorly towards a mental crisis situation. Law enforcement do not have the necessary required training and knowledge to deal with mental health issues. I believe that if the legal community make it required for the officers to undergo courses or training pertaining to dealing with difficult or mentally ill people, the amount of unfortunate conflicts between the police and people with mental illness will drastically decrease. There should be a fine line drawn as to what is acceptable by the police and what is acceptable by the general population in dealing with crisis and emergent situations. The community should also help by increasing the amount of access to mental health professionals for the general population who believe they are suffering from an mental illness, thus help contain and control the problem before it escalates into something violent.
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Post by Korie Griffith on Apr 27, 2016 13:03:38 GMT -4
I really don't know why this is topic. The only reason police are doing any of this so called training is because they're getting caught. Police have been shoot first ask questions later for as long as I can remember. It makes no sense to me that police officers need additional crisis training. The crisis training should have been implemented from day one. How can you be a police officer without knowing how to handle a volatile situation. I'm sorry but this is ridiculous from my point of view. Its sad cause it is very true that a lot of the people abused by the police have mental issues. What do you expect when mental hospitals are closing and the patients have no where to go. Eventually the schizo patient hearing voices telling him to do violent things is either going to end up in jail or with a cops bullet in his chest. Police basic training should have crisis intervention as a requirement. Not an extra, maybe add on.
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Post by Adil Humayun on Apr 27, 2016 13:10:35 GMT -4
Public lack of knowledge about mental disorders only trickles down into the police. People forget that police officers are still just human with biases and prejudices of their own. Training and education is therefore extremely important to help curb gut reactions by police officers and show them how to handle people with mental illness. People suffering from mental illness will not act in accordance with many expectations, those without the proper training to know what to expect and how to properly deal with the situation will be in danger of making grave mistakes and judgement calls that may not have been the best decision at the time. Education like this should be available to all people though, because this is an important issue that needs to be tackled.
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Post by sp on Apr 27, 2016 13:22:26 GMT -4
i think this article is interesting. we all have heard so many stories about civilians getting shot. It's about time police needs to know the difference between the convicted guy and civilian with mental disorder. so it's really important for them to get some serious training about different mental disorders. so it helps them deal with the situation to make a better judgement calls.i think it's best decision at the time as we see lot of these stories in the media.
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Post by Rita J on Apr 27, 2016 13:54:45 GMT -4
I think it is important for people working in all public field including police officers to be educated in mental illness. The Crisis Intervention training can help prevent further damage to the patients and how not to escalade the situation. Without proper training, police officers are like any other human beings and will not know how to react to the situation. I think Crisis Intervention training centers should be offered in every state and it can save lives. Many people look at mental ill patients as criminals and shoot them down when it can be easily prevented. I am glad that the law enforcements are willingly to go forth with the training but society as a whole have a lot more to learn about mentally ill community. Many times I have heard people talk about how a person should be just arrested and put in jail and talk about how there is no such thing as a mentally ill person.
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