Marcus Alerts in Virginia and Risks to Unarmed Responders
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22 responses to “Marcus Alerts in Virginia and Risks to Unarmed Responders”
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As a first responder who for 31 year dealt with nut jobs and addicts it is a no win situation. I have successfully talked a few into going peacefully while the vast majority ended up in serious violence with the responders getting the worse of it. You people out there in your safe little 9-5 jobs have got to quit watching scripted stupid tv shows and realize that is not the way it works out.
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Don’t agree much with Kiser but I do here. It’s a nice “theory” but the reality is when 911 is called – you simply don’t know the level of danger and even police who are trained and ready get injured and killed by folks with “mental” issues.
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It’s not a theory. It is the law in Virginia. Which is why I wrote about it. And the reason I wished the responders Godspeed.
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what is the law? I doubt seriously the law saw that every police car has to have a mental health person on board.
More likely the law “allows” something rather than mandates.
It’s a bad idea in general. Let the police respond then call in mental health when the situation calls for it.
To staff up all police to have mental health on-board or even in police stations is going to be gawd-awful costly and risks as hell to all concerned both mental health staff and LEO.
We don’t provide the mental health infrastructure and services BEFORE-hand which if we did would already be dealing with some folks BEFORE it becomes a police issue.
The current approach is cynical and doomed to fail. It’s “feel-good” that risks responders lives IMO.
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A law which has not started and should have been in “December 2021”
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Prince William County has launched a similar program. I wonder if they allow ride along these days. It would be useful to see this up close from a citizen’s perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ys9m3rdcp8-
They have. The program is now available in 5 localities, one within each region of the State.
Western VA : Madison County, Fauquier County , Warrenton and Culpeper City (Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services)
Northern VA : Prince William County (Prince William County Community Services)
Southwest VA: City of Bristol and Washington County including the Towns of Abingdon, Damascus, and Glade Spring (Highlands CSB)
Central VA : City of Richmond (Richmond Behavioral Health Authority)
Southeast VA: City of Virginia Beach (Virginia Beach Human Services )
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I’m not a believer in this. When a incident occurs and 911 called, they really don’t know with any precision what the circumstances are -on the ground.
Typically, the fastest, most efficient response is to roll a law enforcement unit and from there assess what is going on.
Even then, there is danger even to armed police sometimes.
We talk the talk about mental illness but we’re not really serious about it. If we were, we’d, at least, have enough mental health facilities and we can’t even seem to get that right.
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But, but, only California has rolling blackouts…
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/07/10/ercot-issues-alert-for-possible-rolling-blackouts-monday/?outputType=ampBe prepared for onslaught of windy NG sniffers…
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See the video that I have posted twice on this article. Compare what the dispatcher is telling the cops to what the cops SHOULD be seeing for themselves.
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Cops training and profession is enforcing the law. Mental health workers training and profession is in dealing with people with mental health issues. Teaming the two up when dealing with people with mental health issues has great potential. They can tag team as needed and often get better outcomes for all.
Is it hazardous duty? Yes. That is no different than the hazards experienced by both already. Richmond has had crisis intervention teams for at least 50 years. Teaming them with cops might actually provide them more protection than they have had.
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So, one is trained to handle the other?
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Mental health workers need to learn how to select the best donuts too.
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Still, it would be best to select only white mental health workers first… see video.
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Long ago when chasing mental health patients who ran from the facility we would shake the big ring of keys and tell bystanders we were staff. That might not work so well today.
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Yeah, maybe a bell and blow a whistle! But then bank robbers will catch on…
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This could be very dangerous for the health worker… but maybe if they know him, it will be better.
I share your concerns. However, the model program that you linked to calls for law-enforcement to be part of the response. The idea is for mental health professionals to take the lead in dealing with someone who seems to be mentally disturbed, with law enforcement there as backup in case things go wrong. But, you are correct that the unarmed mental health responder is at immediate risk. The perfect example is Marcus Peters. When he came charging out of that car, I doubt that he would have responded positively to a mental health responder.
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We are in total agreement. I wrote in the article that they are mixed teams. One less cop. One more civilian. Doesn’t mean it is not a good idea, but it is more dangerous for the responders than two cops.
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James, did you actually speak with someone assigned to the Marcus Alert team (Community
Response Team)?
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Remember this from Jeanine’s memes a couple of weekends ago?
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