Thinking about Yates in Texas, the mommy-murders in St. Paul during the
last two years, the several ill people who've been killed by the police
department,
Can anyone cite a list of services we could install to really get to these
people before they melt?
I am so struck by the similarities between the Yates family situation and
the woman in St. Paul who killed her children. Since I'm all insulated and
objective (and posing as omniscient, also) I can see that a woman with too
many children, not enough help, cultural restrictions on much of what she
does with her life, isolation, a history of needing M.H. intervention--sure
she's going to blow. The only questions that remain are "When?" and "How
many people will get hurt?"
We had a woman killed by the police within the last two years because she
appeared to be attacking them with a knife. The police were greatly blamed
because they didn't get phone calls in time to back off.
OK, but they were on the firing line and I was not. I do not know what
they perceived.
This week it was the Somali man, who was not even reponding to English,
and, trust me: my Dad used machetes occasionally taking out weeds in
pre-weedeater times. That is one wicked looking piece of metal. I also
would not like to see a crowbar or a clawed wrecking bar aimed at me.
Again, I do not know what the police perceived the situation to be, and it
was not my body out there.
Again, not enough intervention, however, with a person who had a history of
illness.
I DO know that the city does not have the money to hire licensed
psychologists to man the police department.
Short of playing Big Brother, does anyone have any program they can point
to that would actually work in these two situations? Can you cite places
and programs we can look at and try to adopt in Minneapolis?
I'm all for brainstorming in most situations ("WE SHOULD...." or "They
should blah-blah..." "I think it's apparent that ....") but this isn't the
time for brainstorming. Right now we could use some citations, even of
near miss programs and see if we can start moving toward installation.
Emilie Quast
SE Como
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