Mental Health Law Enforcement

Police officer’s that serve and protect the community are challenged on a daily basis when it comes to using the correct amount of force during an arrest or detention of a person. These officers are critiqued and questioned regularly when they use force, whether it is deadly force or less lethal force. Police officers are put in positions where they have to use the amount of force to control the situation and they do so by following a guideline such as the Force Continuum or other policies and procedures the department has set in place. Regardless of the amount of force an officer uses they are put through extensive training to learn how to handle certain situations. The lack of training or rehearsing scenarios can cause a situation to

For many years, it has been difficult in identifying the proper meaning of the use of force or the proper use of force, regarding on police officers. Use of force by police officers is acceptable under specific circumstances, such as self-defense and of another individual or group when necessary. There are officers caught abusing their power by using excessive force in the wrong situations. Many people can view police officers as using excessive force in a way to complete their job, but others can view them as using excessive force inappropriately in cases like racial profiling.

The Ninth Amendment states: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be constructed or deny or disparage others retained by the people” (Bill of Rights). This amendment was made to protect people’s rights. Including things like marriage, abortion, slavery, and police conduct. However, this modification has been compromised several times in the past and the present.

There are so many mentally ill people in correctional facilities because most families do not know how to help their loves ones who suffer from a mental illness, so the call the police for help. Majority of the police officers do not know what to do or how to handle people with a mental illness disease. Police officers who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill often do not recognize that person is ill. Some police officers do not recognize if the individual should or not go to jail or a treatment center or medical facility. The impact of law enforcement and the judicial system dealing with people with a mental illness is to assist the inmates with the help they need. Also, the correctional facilities help inmates with mental illness

Today there are more mentally ill people in prisons and jails in the United States than any hospital or psych facility in this country. Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois is the largest mental health institution in the country. When a mentally ill person gets arrested for a violent crime they stay three to four times longer than a regular violent offender. “One third of those incarnated in cook county jail suffers from psychological disorders.” According to a 2006 Justice Department study, more than half of prisoners in the United States Suffer from some sort of mental health problem. The study also says that among female inmates one third of them have some type of mental disorder. In prisons and jails, prisoners sit in their cells majority

later that night he leaped at a swat member with a kitchen knife, and the swat member had to shoot to save his life (MacDonald 16). All cops are trained for fast and appropriate responses in any situation, but especially dangerous ones. If a man attacks an officer, he will end up shot by a taser or a real handgun or rifle. The assailant in this case was a major threat to an officer 's life. The officer was forced to react.. The assailant should have just given up, but he didn’t.

In the past few years, there have been some tragic outcomes for police cases involving individuals with a mental illness. Before the Sammy Yatim case, there have been cases involving; Michael Eligon, Sylvia Klibingaitis, Robert Dziekanski, and Paul Boyd. Each of these individuals posed a threat to the community and each also had a mental illness, and initially shot by a police officer. A recent case that has been raising awareness for police shootings resulting death involving an individual with a mental illness is the Sammy Yatim case. As like the other related cases, Yatim had a mental illness and posed a threat to the community. Const. James Forcillo was the police officer who took charge against Yatim and shot him a total of nine times. Many would argue that the first three shots were to paralyze Yatim and keep him on the floor of the streetcar, although the other six shots were unnecessary. It was proven that, Yatim had consumed about 3-4 types of illicit drugs and had a mental illness. With Yatim on a dosage of multiple drugs and having a mental illness Forcillo and the rest of his unit should have taken charge easily

On 06/14/2017 around 1750 hours, I, Officer Burkes, responded to a report of a suspicious person knocking on a door at 1504 Homestead Blvd. The caller stated that a white male was bleeding all over her door and asking her to call 911. When I arrived on scene, I noticed a white male, later identified as Alex Schesny, sitting between the screen door and steele door. I asked Alex to get up and walk out to the back of my patrol car. Once on the back of my car, I retrieved my gloves out of the front seat.

While on routine patrol on Main St. in the area of the One Stop Capt. Oneill and myself could hear a female screaming extremely loud. Her screams were so loud it caused individuals to direct their attention to the noise.

On 7-22-2016, I, Richard Reyes was dispatched to a call for criminal trespassing at 12625 Wetmore Rd, San Antonio, TX. at approximately 0800 hours. I arrived on site at 0818 hours, where there were 2 men arguing inside of the class room. I was accompanied by back-up officer Alysha Rosario, we separated the two men from each other and asked the suspect Johnny McGregor to step outside, and the Officer Rosario spoke with him and gathered his story.

The number of shootings involving law enforcement officers and unarmed African American men has increased in the United States in recent months to the point where there is social unrest in one particular community: the African-American community. Groups such as Black Lives Matter have been created in the recent past to create tranquility between the police and the people of the Unites States. If media accounts of these incidents are accurate and these recent trends are taken together, the country is on the tipping point of a deadly unprecedented racial divide.

On 6/19/16 at 2341 hours my partner, Officer Acosta #0044, and I were working patrol assigned to unit 3A22. We responded to a radio call of “shots fired” in the area of 101 W. Washington Bl.

It’s a cold winter morning, and a police officer is patrolling his normal route. Born and raised in this small Midwestern town, he is now starting his own family here. He rarely sees any excitement at 3 A.M., but he spots a car swerving as he passes it on a country highway. He turns around and pulls the car over to find that the driver is his neighbor. It is not a rare occurrence that it is someone he knows in such a small community. His neighbor appears to be intoxicated and becomes violent when the officer reaches for his handcuffs. He takes a swing at the officer and then attempts his escape. Thirty years prior, the officer would have had the option to draw his weapon and fire or risk a dangerous car chase. Thankfully, he has a Taser gun on his belt. He is able to draw, fire, and apprehend the subject with little effort and no loss of life. His neighbor may have died that night if it were not for this modern technology. It is for this and many other similar situations that law enforcement should be allowed to use Tasers.

In the beginning of Moskos’ book, he reminisces over joining the police force in order to write about the experiences involved with being an officer. At first, the other officers did not accept him because they feared the intentions of his book. Their fear was that the book would bash and exploit the police force. The other officers would carefully watch their conversations around Moskos. Eventually, his colleagues and higher ranked officers realized he posed no threat, so they contributed their ideas. Although Moskos’ primary reason for joining the force was to advance in his academics, he felt bonded by natural brotherhood developed from his time with his fellow officers. The bonds he formed are unlike the relationships he has with

should change that would help you in your work? He quickly answered saying that he would like to see stricter dispositions at court, he felt like the court keeps just letting people go and then they just end up back at the court a short while later. He believes that if criminals are sentenced the first time they commit then they are less likely to be repeat offenders. What is the biggest misconception you think the public has about your job? He thinks that the public believes that police officers think they are above the law, that they can do whatever they want. He continued by saying that as a police officer when he is off duty he still needs to consider what he is doing. He can’t get belligerently drunk at a bar like a normal person can, he has to watch himself. His response to this question ties a lot into my next question. How did the recent media coverage of Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter impact law enforcement? He says that the media is always going to show the negative side of things, never the positive. There is a misunderstanding with how police deal with intense situations. The public don’t understand that we only have a split second to make a decision in an intense situation like this. The media uses negative news to attract more attention. People don’t get all the facts, they only know one side of the story. He gives the example of the incident