Why do police deal with mental health problems so poorly?

Question

It is fairly well known at least in the mental health community that the way police often handle mental health problems is by shooting the individual. This suggests that police do not have a good understanding of mental health problems or how to deal with them in most cases. I also believe that there is a culture among police that suggests that they simply do not believe that anyone actually has a mental health problem and instead it's just a criminal. Now for the first time this morning I've learned that the shooter in the Monterey Park California shootings which took the lives of 10 people had previously gone to a police station in Hemet California complaining that his family was trying to poison him. This was a 72 year old Asian man and both his age and his race mitigated against him committing the terrible crimes that he subsequently committed. I would have expected the police to be very worried about the kind of complaint that he presented to them with even if they didn't think it was true. Any one of his culture and age complaining that his family is trying to poison him deserves a mental health evaluation but of course the police apparently just sent him on his way and provided no services or help at all. Had
they done so, 10 people might not have been killed subsequently.

WhiteSteve · Accepted Answer

A lot of idiots out there don’t care to look beyond the surface level on all kinds of issues, just due to lazy thought. “You do something bad, you should get your head busted, and I dare you to try it again.”

I kind of view police as a wing of the Republican party, like they seem to have this idea that they’re their “muscle” to enforce what they believe is right. Obviously bumper sticker combinations we all see everyday in America kind of tell the tale on that. And just listen to anyone who is calling for “Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo”, it’s not long before they start telling you how quickly it’d be over because they believe the police and armed services would automatically back them, they believe them to be “one of them.”

I think we very heartlessly (and brainlessly) brand people as “criminals”, and we do very little to analyze and correct circumstances that lead people down the path of possibly criminal behavior. They love to tell you, as an example, that black folks are whatever disproportionate amount of criminals relative to their overall population, but no one wants to do the hard work to figure it out, be understanding of the causes for both real and imagined black “criminality”, and take the steps (and make personal attitude and behavioral changes) to foster a better environment and hopefully better outcomes for people. You bring up psychology and these mouth-breathers just start telling you it’s “a chick major” or part of “liberal indoctrination” at one of scary institutions of higher learning, because it’s not that they’re teaching “Critical Race Theory”, it’s that they’re teaching “critical THINKING”, and that leads people away from these people’s low-effort assessments and solutions. I’m astounded at how much disdain is now projected towards people who have been college educated. “Liberal indoctrination centers!” Just lmfao. Nobody in college ever taught me what to think, I was just provided with more detailed information on topics we had to breeze through in high school for the sake of time and broad coverage, or just didn’t cover at all, and I came to my own conclusions from there. Add into that exposure to people from all manner of different backgrounds, and that further broadens your own horizons. If you stay in [Forrest Gump voice] “Greeeenbaaooowwwww, Al-uh-bayma” your whole life, you likely don’t get that.

Anyway, back on track, mental health, to many people is just an unsympathetic issue for a lot of people. “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get over it!”…. much more easily said than done, especially in the case of people thinking their family is poisoning them, something beyond normal responses to stressors and getting into schizophrenia or anything where you’re believing shit that isn’t happening IS happening.

Plus, we’re JUST NOW getting to the point where people give any measure of a fuck about mental health. Not for nothing, the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” crowd, during Covid lockdowns, suddenly started championing mental health, and how important it is to be able to still go to Applebee’s or to be able to dump your fuckwit children off with teachers most days so you don’t have to deal with them and the annoyance of parenting, and how damaging lockdowns were to our mental health. I mean, I buy it, but it was just real funny to suddenly hear that from that crowd. All brought to you by the same folks who think the insanity defense is a cop-out and we should just skip the trial and strap them straightaway into the electric chair.

One thing I notice, not quite sure how to describe it, but it’s like…. some people really fancy the idea of being “no nonsense”, like they believe this to be an admirable trait. There are times where I suppose it can be, but I don’t think dealing with troubled people is the arena for it. I also think people are just unhealthily obsessed with having complete control over all outcomes in life, like we just can’t possibly ever let anything bad occur, so we need to just shut it all right the fuck down and deal with people harshly. “That’ll show ‘em.” Remember we live in a place and time where all these nerds think “fuck around and find out” is just the coolest thing they ever heard, which is honestly super weird, but I guess super weird is par for the course in this country. I’m so baffled by the mentalities so many people walk around with and they just think they’re right as rain in the belief.

lightbulb27 · Accepted Answer

It's perspective. scenario, a man walks into police station and says "I just saw this one eyed monster in the water". They think, ok, he's a little crazy, but no laws are broken, we'll check into it...". He realizes he went through the wrong door and goes to the aquarium next door to say the same thing... they all run out the door to go try to catch it.

There's different perspectives, training and purpose. Even if they have compassion and empathy and training, they can't "Do" anything other than recommend he go to the mental health clinic, and we all know what that process is like..."go nuts trying to get into it".

So we see the "errror rate" on TV for the bad cases. The ones that go right we never see and there are likely millions.

Might be better off with squadrons of Police Nurses. Death rate of criminals go down, death rate of nurses go up.

I would think in this scenario, police would need to have: A) laws that enable them to "confine" someone for evaluation if they sense they are ill. That's a stretch as can be abused quickly... it's all about "evidence" of if a law is broken, and non was broken B) training with empathy to identify and care for people. Some can have training, not all have empathy especially when police are in essence, like predated animals. Only takes a few cops to be murdered to toss the balance of concern in favor of their own survival.

You can solve that with religion by promising all cops they go to heaven with the pleasure of 100 virgins.

...

I wore a uniform once and several times I felt uncomfortable and singled out when as a normal dressed person, I would have been left alone. It happened to be a UPS uniform, but that was bad enough. Police are another level of "threat"... some are blind sided and murdered, at risk all the time. I don't know how they do what they do for 20 years. they see case after case of domestic abuse, and difficult people.

I guess the easy answer is go sign up for police or talk to the trainers of police.

lottiebannotie · Accepted Answer

They only have the most basic training regarding mental health and usually don't know what they're dealing with until it's too late a far from perfect system

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Why are police having to deal with mental health problems in the first place?

inhua · Answer

police are just people. they're not perfect and are just as flawed as anyone else. a lot of police are dealing with mental health issues of their own which very few people in the world can truly understand. outsiders like to criticize them but have absolutely no clue on how to do that job nor the ability to deal with those same mental health issues.

fact of the matter is people in society don't give a shit about mental health problems but they sure as hell like to virtue signal about it especially in regards to male mental health whereas female mental health at least has people taking it seriously.

given that people insist on those with mental health issues go talk to a therapist rather than them shows they don't actually care about mental health. sure it might not be their job to care but they be virtue signaling too much that do care when they don't.

for example let's say there's a guy who has been bullied his entire life for his disfigured looks, rudely rejected and humiliated, told to commit suicide, backstabbed and lied to, had lies spread about him, creep shamed and falsely accused of sexual harassment and he tells the truth about his lived experience... and what's usually the first response he'll get from outsiders? "shut up you fucking incel, go get help"

of course then there's the whole "toxic masculinity" nonsense of "man up" and stop whining and complaining etc. which a lot of men and especially police need to deal with, bottling up their emotions until some lunatic pushes them over the edge. at the end of the day people and police have little to no understanding of mental health nor do they care that is until it affects them.

Jay3344 · Answer

In the US, it probably because they are still adjusting the police culture to deal with it. America used to have state facilities that dealt with that stuff but not always in a great way. So now we have non medical people with little or no background having to become responsible for these things when they are an organization more geared towards law enforcement and providing revenue and many expenses to the state. My opinion is law enforcement should really have the scope of their authority and responsibilities limited in america

Chazmatazz269 · Answer

NOBODY in the US gives mental health awareness and treatment its due attention. The only ways in which cops are worse than everyone else is that they actually murder the mentally ill with impunity.
I’m not anti-capital punishment by any stretch of the imagination, but one argument i can appreciate is based on the mounds of evidence that shows how often we execute people with mental diseases and defects in the US.

anon171999 · Answer

Because cops have mental health issues. How could they not have major mental health issues though with what they do at work everyday and some of the stuff they see?

RolandCuthbert · Answer

Police are not trained to deal with mental health situations. Therefore folks should stop involving them. The police have one tool to use when handling someone who is having a mental breakdown.

Their gun;

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rwHJL5X97Do https://www.youtube.com/embed/g5qjU5TG960

DryGermanGuy · Answer

That's a question of a more extensive police academy curriculum. In some local American jurisdictions you get to become an armed deputy with just a few weeks of training. In Germany the basic training alone is a full study course including degree over three to three and a half years. You do the math...

WindAtMyBack · Answer

So police are supposed to be experts at everything? It's not possible. Their job is to enforce the law. If someone breaks the law the police do their job, and someone else deals with whatever else might be involved.

As for the guy thinking his family was trying to poison him, there is nothing the police can do. As far as I know you can't force someone into a mental evaluation against their will without good reason. Even a very severe mental illness is not illegal.

OddBeMe · Answer

Not enough tax money is devoted to it. Sports arena? We’ll pay for that, tho.

Justneedtokno · Answer

I think it all depends on upbringing, lack of knowledge, self-awareness and shame

jimmy2 · Answer

Police and correction officers have to deal with mental illness everyday and they are not doctors. If someone off the chain deadly threat has to be into It

NathanDavis · Answer

poor training, or no training at all

Why do police deal with mental health problems so poorly?

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