45% in mental-health crisis said Phoenix police made matters worse

[TexasTowelie]

Nearly half of mentally ill individuals who said they had contact with Phoenix police said the officers actually made the situation worse, according to a city survey.

The survey, conducted by the Phoenix Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues, questioned 244 individuals with mental-health issues found in Phoenix mental health clinics, residential programs and those who were homeless. Of those, 51 percent had at least one encounter with police and 24 percent had three or more.

The survey found 45 percent of those who reported police contact said the situation deteriorated when police arrived. Another 30 percent said police helped, 19 percent said they helped a lot, and 6 percent said police had no effect, according to the survey.

The responses were completed in September, and the results were made public last week.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/04/11/phoenix-police-survey-mental-health-crisis/100310696/

[Warpy]

1. Unsurprising. Police are not mental health workers and shouldn't be used in place of them

There should be crisis teams out there as part of fire & rescue, but nobody can be bothered to spend the money on training and deployment. The fact that it would save a lot of lives, not to mention police time, doesn't seem to matter.

Corporations first, people last.