Why aren't the police better trained at handling mentally ill people?

How would you train them? Dr's and mental health professionals used to keep the violently mentally ill drugged to a near comatose state, locked in restraints and behind thick doors before well meaning people decided it was cruel and put them out on the streets. They thought it best that they were treated at home, except they didn't think about who would keep them on meds. What home is equipped to deal with them? So they stopped funding of mental institutions, closed them down and smiled feeling good about what a kind thing they had done.

Dr's and mental health professionals with many years of training were and are at a loss for how to handle the violently mentally ill...short of locking them away and sedating them. They tried all sorts of "therapies" from electro shock to lobotomy. They all failed.

So now you are not satisfied with how the police handle such situations. Would you suggest the officers be psychiatrists, or phycologists as a requirement? Would be nice.....would you pay for that training, and the wages they would demand and deserve?

It seems to me it is another case of "let George do it" and then carping because you don't like the way it works out. As far as I know nobody has a good answer for handling the mentally ill....and that includes the mental health professionals. The police are the last resort....struggling to keep the peace with individuals who have been neglected/abused/mistreated/ and in need of help for their whole lives....and during that few minutes when the mentally ill person is acting out in a bizarre violent manner the officer is to magically make all this right and calmly diffuse the situation. It is a wonder to me that things usually work out as well as they do.

What training, at what cost, without putting either the officers or the public at risk? The problem of mental illness goes far beyond the scope of the police.

Because every case is so drastically different from the next. It would require nonstop training.
However, a little compassion now and then would be good enough...

I don't know it feels as if the whole country wants to turn a blind eye to the mentally ill and let someone else deal with the aftermath. The police need more training in that field no doubt

It really has nothing to do with police that's why. We deinstitutionalized the mental health system back years ago. Don't be mistaken.. this was a good thing because they were known for committing atrocities in those old asylums. It was because of the belief system that the mentally ill were "broken" or even people just born with birth defects or speech impairments were thought to be "ill." Well the tearing down of that system never got replaced because of politicians. The jail being used to house them was born.

That and mostly profit driven just like big pharma, it's the same practice. I highly doubt a PTSD veteran living on the streets can get as better care than let's say a doctor with anxiety.

Maybe the cops can handle situations better but I don't think it should really be their job. I think their job is to enforce laws and we simply need to replace a system that was broken a long time ago that we never got around to. Literally we just said "fuck it."

I feel like mental health is still a taboo subject, unfortunatly. Everyone needs be more aware of mental health.

I don't get out that much any more. They're out of practice,

They had to lower the standards so certain people could qualify to be a policeman.

There's little value to the police in mental disorders. They're trained in "good guys" and "bad guys," when in fact many of the citizens they come into contact with do suffer from a disorder of some kind. Our jails are full of them. If they were trained to identify and properly deal with such individuals, less shootings, beatings and arrests might happen.

Because they lack training and mental healthcare in this country is dumped into the hands of the law enforcement community to deal with...

The police are trained to enforce the law ... period .

thank John McCain. the biggest liar as a vet

As they are, just like anyone, promoted/equipped to deal with people as being normal people (and probably more so than anyone, and more so need this idea about mental illness). I'm not justifying; I find it ugly, but sadly I can understand as if something is violent (they feel) is about to happen, they are trained to respond.

idk about cops in other countries , but where i live they are .... idk makes me think my cats will do a better job