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San Antonio, where policing the mentally ill means treating them [America.Aljazeera.com]

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The San Antonio police’s strategy for responding to calls involving people who are mentally ill is being hailed as a national model amid rising anger over police brutality toward and high incarceration rates of people with mental health issues.

The approach was used in mid-March when sheriff’s deputies responded to a call in eastern San Antonio when a woman called because her son, who had refused to take his medication, was aggressive and threatening. She said he was mentally ill, hadn’t bathed or eaten and was paranoid.

The deputies from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office alerted the office’s mental health unit, which sent officers who specialize in mental health to speak to the man calmly, with the goal of de-escalating the situation, according to Sgt. Raul Garza, the supervisor of the unit.

They maintained a patient, unhurried demeanor, and the man agreed to go with the deputies to a treatment facility.

Garza said deputies in the mental health unit have used force only twice since 2012.

 

[For more of this story, written by Stell Simonton, go to http://america.aljazeera.com/a...s-treating-them.html]

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