- Jan 8, 2011
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Something is amiss for sure.Couldn't agree more. However, let add this.Why do we have to defund the police to hire more social workers? We have millions of social workers right now. What are they doing? Maybe we should 'defund' social services and "re-imagine" that instead.What you did is exactly what I think should be done and should be expanded. This is the part of defunding the police I believe needs to happen but with more social workers and mental health professional. I think we should reduce the number of police gradually and certainly not reduce the numbers by 50%.
Saw a study of the homeless in Seattle and several other cities. One of things that stood out was number that that were seriously mentally ill with disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, something like 39% of the chronic homeless. A year or so ago, there was a special focusing on mental illness on TV. An ex-con out of the Washington State penitentiary was interviewed. He said about 1 out every 4 convicts were psychos, hallucination, memory lost, etc. A lot of them didn't know or couldn't remember exactly what crime they were imprisoned for.
Cops are not trained in mental health. They are trained in law enforcement. They have no idea how to intervene with mentally ill people. As a consequence the mental ill are either ignored, incarcerated, mistreated or killed.
Cops want support in dealing with the mentally ill. The funding no longer exists in most States so cops are left to deal with a huge number of mentally ill (maybe 25% of the people they encounter) with zero training or support.
I like and respect cops. I have worked closely with them for decades. Cops should not have to be the front line in dealing with America's seriously mentally ill. It is not fair to the cops, it is not fair to the mentally ill, and it is bad for this Country.
I'm really not sure how the police and a force of trained social welfare/metal health workers would work together when dealing with violent criminals.
I have a family member who works in the ER of a large hospital, in one of Florida’s largest cities. He said it’s a zoo. Hallways are full of patients on gurneys, as the hospital has no open rooms. Staff are overworked and many do not have proper protection. Many staff have quit and he’s considering it too.