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Originally Posted by jeffk
I agree with you completely. This is tragic.
However, there are a couple of things I would point out.
It is one thing to discuss how to manage such a situation in a training scenario. It is completely different in an emergency situation. I would suggest even the professionals who teach such classes could mess things up in an uncontrolled and unknown situation.
In addition, while training is good and does help, it is not a certain solution. Some people in a mental health crisis simply cannot be "managed". The police walk in with very limited knowledge of the person or the situation. They have to, VERY quickly, determine what is going on and try to get control of the situation. They have to decide if the person will respond to management techniques or not and how dangerous he is. This combination of factors is a disaster waiting to happen and decisions sometimes need to be made in seconds.
The police are in a lose-lose situation.
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Yes, I think it comes down to the situation. Someone with a knife to someone else's throat calls for immediate action. On the other hand someone alone in a house holding a knife, there is probably no reason to rush.
I agree it's a tough situation for cops. It will be interesting to see if there is any type of training for dealing with mental illness. Hopefully the crackerjack journalists out there will find out.