“And nothing about the real problem: the mentally ill.”
Correct, and this guy was SO nuts that his own parents called the cops on him.
Clearly that was ineffectual (why, I don’t understand but so it was), but my guess is that was not the only thing they had done to try and get him help.
I know from personal experience that is it pretty much impossible to get help for a mentally ill person. Psychiatrists, etc. spend their days helping the neurotic while the psychotic are pretty much left to fend for themselves.
In the 2 cases I’m personally familiar with, involving a family member and a close friend, many, many caring family members sought fruitlessly to get help for people who had lost touch with reality.
The end result in both cases was suicide.
I can only suppose it could have been worse.
The laws pertaining to mental illness need to be changed.
The problem with the cops is that they are too careful now, because there have been too many lawsuits and even prison terms for interfering with the “rights of the mentally ill.” One of which, apparently, is to shoot at or attempt to stab cops without having any response from said cops. I guess the police are supposed to be the sacrificial lambs.
But this shouldn’t rest on them. If this guy was dysfunctional enough to be in a special residence, under the supervision of “therapists,” whatever that means, why weren’t his violent social media posts and threats enough to immediately get him put into a locked ward?