Gun Violence in Schools

[BIGREDIOWAN]

...

No problem, my fault for misunderstanding there, I apologize for that. I get to see our mental health system from a front row seat which is where I'm speaking from. It's really sad to see, folks need help and don't get it, not that ALL of the folks that get guns and go shoot up a place necessarily suffer from a mental disorder, but you could say a large number of them do. Our training in dealing with mentally ill folks has really picked up over the years because we're the ones called to deal with those folks and are picking up the slack of the mental healthcare system. That can cause a poor outcome from time-to-time unfortunately. If they don't do something with the mental healthcare system my view is they have no choice, but to do a more intensive background screening process, but you could do both of those things and it wouldn't hurt anything IMO.

Mental illness is a 1 step forward, 2 steps back situation. The police chief for my area removed Officer training for dealing with the mentally impaired. His reasoning was there was no reason to treat them differently than any other criminal (literal wording). This is a very well-off area which makes this more sad. Additionally, there are few in-patient treatment centers remaining that are dedicated to dealing with mental illness. The biggest out here that remains is 1st a drug rehab & 2nd a mental illness facility. That sends the wrong message.

There is so much that we can do to improve mental healthcare and also (unrelated or not) address preventable cases of gun violence yet nothing is done...

That is an incredibly short-sited move on that Chief's part. Apparently he/she doesn't have an administration in place that is willing/able to caution him/her in making such a bone-headed decision. I've had advanced training as a supervisor in mental health training. It's incredibly important and I've used that training more times than I can count to bring a peaceful resolution to situations. I agree it's only one part, this is a complicated topic that has many moving parts to it. Identifying each part is important and then figuring out a plan of attack on each to help the situation is the first step to helping with this situation.

The Commanders, Lt's, & Sgt's unanimously advised against it & fought it internally. I hate to say it, but the guy has some very bigoted notions and is OK putting his people in harm's way in this situation. In neighborhood watch meetings, this police chief explicitly advises block captains to use racial profiling as a primary measure for when to call-in suspicious activity. He is very politically savvy and well-spoken so he is able traction within the community on a lot of bad decisions... How this guy decreased domestic violence incidents is astoundingly unethical... Anywhoo

They have "No confidence" votes for a reason, might be time for the department to make that move! Sheesh

 

[Danny Bateman]

Oh, the irony:

 

[Making Chimichangas]

BRI* I haven't slept in a while lol

Meth...just say no.

 

[Making Chimichangas]

Oh, the irony:

This is NOT ironic.

Irony is when result is opposite of what is intended.