Police shooting

[k9krap]

in the Burg

[Dave's Not Here Man]

Sounds like one less asshole running the streets.

[minx]

I'll take mentally deranged and homeless for $200 Alex.

Cause that's what the guy sounds like. And I'm not saying the officer wasn't justified, just that I suspect that will turn out to be a huge factor.

And I'm not sure how we can fix that issue. More and more people are becoming unhoused (meaning that you live in a tent, or a car), homeless (you couch-surf at friend's until you get kicked out, or live in a sleazy motel room) or living rough (on the street with no shelter from the elements - kind of the final straw as I see it). The easiest answer of course is to expand housing options and become more creative in getting them (for example, Micah is trying to get a small community of tiny houses with mental health and medical services within walking distance), along with expanding mental health, substance abuse and medical services to the ENTIRE community. But that costs big bucks, and our governor is more interested in giving everyone $100 a year more than in doing something to help the greater good - the more people who are able to access housing and services, the better off and safer the rest of us are.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

A lot of the addicts are completely out of their minds and when they become a threat to the public they have to be dealt with some how. Until there is a highly concentrated effort and investment in putting trained people on the streets to work directly with LE, they are going to continue to get weeded out the hard way. Counselors etc on scene doesn't promise different outcomes in every situation obviously but the ones that can be reasoned with would be, instead of flipping out on a person that has the draw on them. A lot of positives to a program like that.

[minx]

Agreed. And while it's always best to help prevent someone from getting evicted in the first place, study after study has shown the best time to intervene is right after the first eviction before people spiral further down. Not easy to find those people though, cause when you're first kicked out is when you also have the energy and hope that you'll find something new quickly so you might not reach out right away.

Read an interesting article in the Atlantic the other week. Group in CA did a study on homelessness and interviewed 300 to 400 people in depth. All of them had either grown up in CA, or lived there FT (they were asked where the last place they had a home was before they became homeless). Out of the group that had moved back (I think it was 15%), they all moved back because they had ties in the area that they thought would help them. They admitted that it was a small slice of folks, but also shows that people aren't migrating around the country looking for the state and area with the best benefits. Which makes sense. If you're homeless, you don't have money, so not like you can pack up what little shit you have and move from state to state.

And I honestly don't care what people say - I'm not all that sure that an unarmed counselor is going to be able to talk down someone who has had a complete breakdown and has become violent, especially if they're encountering that person for the first time. Would be different if that trained counselor knew the person and understood their history somewhat, but I suspect that just about every person who works in an ER would say those people are the hardest to handle and calm back down.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

There's generally no help for people that need it, realize they need it, and have the means to get it. Example: still trying to find a psych for medication management. Finally had a breakthrough with RACSB that claims to offer both behavioral therapy and medication management. I don't know how it works yet because 1)they won't say over the phone and 2)I'm on the waiting list behind 80 people before they being me in for an intake assessment.

Imagine if I were having critical daily functional issues that leave folks like me at, or hovering just above, rock bottom. Or if I was not covered by Medicaid. Or if I was living on the street. It becomes much easier to see how extremely inadequate the system is overall. It resembles social programs and entitlements, where one has to be basically completely destitutue in order to qualify for help. That's tragic IMO on both fronts.

As for having counselors or other people trained to deal with unstable people, I agree that in many cases they won't be able to change the outcomes for a lot of the people they come in contact with. However, you can look at it like this: Having the right person with the right training and experience might well be able to change the outcome of individual encounters where police are involved and they are able to communicate/advise the officers on the scene rather than the sole focus of "talking down" a deranged person. 

[minx]

True on all counts.
One of the eldest's classmates had a friend with a lot of intellectual disabilities. Autistic, developmentally delayed and OCD.
When she was little, you could easily redirect her when she got mad and lost her temper. As she got older, it got harder and harder and she got stronger and stronger.
Since she had Medicaid at that point, they'd go to RACSB when she was in crisis. I went with them a few times - nothing like having an adult having a total meltdown and trying to control them in the waiting room while waiting over an hour to see someone
She was on the waiting list for a group home from the time she was 17. Finally got a spot when she was 25 - her eldest brother killed himself and her father had to relocate to Huntsville, AL for his job. Even though mom was following, they said they were getting a divorce. The combination moved her to the top of the list. And that's pretty damn sad.