Police officers from Kansas City have described some ways of handling mental diseases. After years of experience, they have confronted various cases in which they needed to help people who suffered from mental disorders. Wade Borchers, who is Lenexa’s police Captain, has presented a case he encountered this year.
- The mental health system is not well equipped for treating hundreds of people with mental diseases.
- Police officers need to deal with difficult cases confronting developmental disabled people.
A man who was swinging on his feet appearing to be drunk has been wandering on a major highway with intensive traffic. The police officer who tried to calm him down and get him off the road had trouble when being understood by the man who was not aware of putting his life in danger. It was critical for the police officer to notice that the man was not drunk but mentally disabled to know what approach he could use to calm him down.
Being able to differentiate people who suffer from mental diseases is considered a prior ability of police officers. They managed to tell the difference after taking part into various necessary training. If they do not use the appropriate approach, then they can jeopardize the life of the victims. The reactions of mentally ill persons can be very different and unexpected.
Many law enforcement bureaus are trying to find different ways to focus on the interactions with mentally challenged people and developmentally disabled ones. Every department seems to have a different approach when confronting with this problem. Only big cities from Kansas have access to significant and helpful resources.
In the meantime, police stations from rural areas, and small towns barely have access to data related to the matter. They cope with difficulties when trying to reach personnel from mental health care for advice, being situated at a great distance. Considering the fact that mental health system is sometimes under pressure, police officers need to deal with difficult cases in helping people suffering from mental diseases. Even if some of them are aware of their disabilities, they cannot afford to pay for mental health treatments, being isolated in small towns.
Because of the impaired health system, law enforcement officials need to come with a solution for all those difficult cases they have encountered. Police departments from Kansas City have developed a training program for the crisis intervention team (CIT). The purpose of the exercise was to establish the delivery of correct data to police officers, using it in severe cases. They need to reveal how they should respond to situations which involve people suffering from mental diseases.
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