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Friday, January 15, 2016

Outsourcing the Mentally Ill to Police

By Rich Lowry
The National Review
Originally posted January 1, 2016

Here is an excerpt:

In its analysis of 2015 police shootings, the Post found dozens of cases in which the police were called as a means of getting treatment. Shirley Marshall Harrison called the Dallas police when her schizophrenic, bipolar son was out of control. He was shot down while allegedly charging police with a screwdriver. “I didn’t call for them to take him to the morgue,” she said of the cops. “I called for medical help.”

It’s a poignant lament, but why do the families of the severely mentally ill need to rely on the police for medical assistance? When someone has a heart attack or gets cancer, we don’t call the police.

The opinion piece is here.