Posted on 02/01/2002 12:20:22 PM PST by Travis McGee
"The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) of Lorain County wishes to express a deep sadness and sorrow for Ronnie Untalan who was shot to death, and especially for his family. We also wish to express sadness and concern for Lorain Police officer James Wolford who was injured by Ronnie in trying to calm Ronnie who has had a history of mental illness.
The sad and deadly situation could have had a better ending had there been a Crisis Intervention Team program in place.
NAMI urged the Lorain County Board of Mental Health a year ago to get this program into this county. This program was offered in May last year to any law enforcement agency in Lorain County absolutely free by Lt. Michael Woody of the Akron Police Dept. The APD Crisis Intervention Team is modeled after the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team which began in 1988. The model has recieved numerous awards from nationally recognized mental health organizations, law enforcement agencies and humanitarian groups. This training program model stesses understanding, not fear, and reduces police harm to patients.
Upon completion of the intensive week long training, the CIT officers will be equipped to respond to mental disturbance calls, ( here the insinuation is that we are not already) which present complex issues related to persons experiencing mental illness.
Unfortunately for Ronnie and Officer Wolford, this program was not in place to prevent this tragedy because of the politics and lame excuses causing a seven month delay in this training. (We've already had to go through the Nord Center version of this training, I guess that wasnt good enough.)
Currently, only two Lorain County officers and two Nord Center staff members recieved this CIT training in December; this is too little, too late for Ronnie and Officer Wolford. Officer Joseph Kopronica didn't kill Ronnie Untalan-the egotistical, arrogant system did!
This county is falling behind in mental health services in all areas compared to other counties. The Nord Center must improve their communications and response time involving emergencies.
Please stop the politics and excuses because they are no longer acceptable. Are you listening, Mental Health Board?-Gail E. Knopf, Columbia Station, president of NAMI of Lorain County
Why do I have the feeling I'm going to be sitting in a NAMI class in the near future? We've had several classes on how to deal with people who suffer from mental illness, must be NAMI's is the best one.
Should be fun going from my patrolman hat, to my NAMI hat, to my SWAT hat and then to my 'defendant' hat.
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