Mental health: Why are police killing people in crisis?
Advocates says care, not cops, is the best approach.
On Tuesday, August 18 at 19:30 GMT:
A growing number of mental health campaigners in the US and Canada are pushing back at the practise of police officers responding to calls about people experiencing mental health crises – sometimes with tragic consequences.
In the US, an estimated one in four police killings involve a person with untreated mental illness. In Canada, 42 percent of those killed by police since 2000 were reported to have mental health or substance abuse problems.
In this episode of The Stream, we ask whether police are the right people to respond to such cases, and if not them, who?
On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Sgt Amy King, @OlyPD
Police Sergeant, Olympia Police Department
olympiawa.gov
Asante Haughton, @asanteV
Mental health advocate and Co-Founder, Reach Out Response Network
Tim Black, @WhiteBirdClinic
Director of Consulting, White Bird Clinic
whitebirdclinic.org
Read more:
US: Seattle police chief resigns as one percent of budget cut – Al Jazeera English
Police are the first to respond to mental health crises. They shouldn’t be. – Vice