Defund the Police! Wait, Bring Them Back!

[marine77]

Excellent foresight

[marine77]

It happened in Soyattle already iirc

[marine77]

That incestuous parasite.

[jshaving]

@BrobiWunKenobi

Imagine if becoming a police officer was a 4 year degree type academy like how the nursing or social work profession does this. They could focus on defensive tactics, search and seizure, law, mental health, addiction, firearms, lifting ect, tactics, appropriate use of force. Then they could do field rotations and If you pass you’re eligible for a license.

I don’t think this is an entirely bad idea. There’s so many situations a cop could have to deal with that more training and education sounds good. Especially if you don’t want social workers and the like involved.

In my town, cops don’t even have to go through a police academy or receive much firearm instruction. It’s really quite easy to get a badge and a gun and have no clue how to handle most things without actual job experience, which only comes with time. I’m not against them having some more knowledge when it comes to stuff.

There’s two colleges in my town and both offer an EMT course each year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Training is put on by the local departments, but held at the schools. There’s a system set up so your FAFSA can apply towards the costs of these classes and you can receive college credit for taking them. Maybe this is common - I don’t know. Could do something similar with cops.

[NickViar]

@Californiagrown

Someone trained in mental health interventions for people in crisis and a cop show up to a mental health crises in an unmarked car. the mental health worker, dressed like a civilian, engages the person and attempts to defuse and deescalate the situation using tactics they have trained years using. The cop hangs back closely monitoring the situation if it turns violent, or if the mental health worker calls in for help. At any point the cop has the authority to deem the situation too dangerous and can take over point/call in backup.

Two uniformed cops show up in a squad car with lights and sirens. Both hop out, hands near their service weapons and proceed to start shouting orders at the person. They attempt to draw on the brief mental health training from a year ago when engaging the person, but are clumsy and out of their depth.

A couple of questions:

1. Why are uniformed Officers showing up to a non-emergency call with lights and sirens?

2. If your answer to the above question is, “It IS an emergency call,” then do you really expect an unarmed guy to get out and deal with the guy while an armed officer stands by out of the way?

[BrobiWunKenobi]

The two academies I did, federal and state felt like crash courses. FTO helps but there’s plenty of “oh shit what do I do” moments when you’re new to the field. Not trying to minimize the value of field experience but man, it would help to have a better foundation of knowledge and skill before being out there with all that responsibility

[Californiagrown]

Because there is no one else to call. There is no known alternative to 911 currently. So, keep 911… But give the dispatcher the option to send a rapid response mental health outreach team instead of just being able to send EMTs or cops.

[zecarlo]

A potential problem is people calling the mental health cops when the person who is in crisis is really just a violent criminal.

[NickViar]

@Californiagrown

Because there is no one else to call.

That doesn’t justify an emergency(lights and siren) response(I can only speak with certainty about my local departments, but I’m going to guess that’s pretty much nationwide).

@Californiagrown

But give the dispatcher the option to send a rapid response mental health outreach team

Again, I would imagine dispatchers have options nationwide. However, if someone is likely going to be taken into custody…it’s a wee bit safer to have armed folks do it. Calls for mental subjects are quite frequently the result of…calls from the mental health professionals that will supposedly deal with these people on their own.

[BrobiWunKenobi]

I’ll get an occasional mental health call that’s pretty harmless, like kid has autism and ran off, or something. But a lot more are like “man is drunk (maybe mental health diagnosis as well) , naked, has a pistol and is standing outside the Hardee’s, now drunk (or crazy) man with a pistol is taking a dump on the side walk ” yes that was really a call