Below is how Mpls. Startribune covers this issue. I included the Mpls. specific points of the article & topics discussed previously on this thread.
But everyone should read the full story so the link is listed below too. -Amanda Tempel (NE Park) http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3365731.html St. Paul police asked to change policies Her�n M�rquez Estrada Star Tribune Published Oct 15, 2002 COPS15 "Mental health advocates meeting with St. Paul police officials today want new policies for police responding to violent confrontations involving mentally ill people, but department officials maintain that current procedures are adequate and effective." snip. "Mental health advocates want St. Paul to create special crisis intervention teams similar to those used by Minneapolis police. They also want officers to receive more training in dealing with the mentally ill than the half-day provided at the police academy." snip. "In Minneapolis, about 100 officers have taken 40 hours of mental health crisis-intervention training. The program was created after three mentally ill people were killed by officers between December 1999 and November 2000. St. Paul Deputy Mayor Dennis Flaherty said he spoke with Police Chief William Finney on Monday. While the chief is open to new ideas, he believes the current system works despite the September shootings, Flaherty said. Finney would not discuss the matter Monday. But he wrote a newspaper column this month in which he noted that department officers responded to more than 900 calls involving the mentally ill last year and rarely resorted to deadly force. St. Paul does have a psychologist, Sgt. Dennis Conroy, to train officers and advise Finney on procedures for handling mentally ill suspects. Conroy also praised department procedures." _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
