The chance of a person being killed by a police officer because he or she has a mental illness may rise due to budget cuts, lack of proper treatment and the police being unaware that the person suffers from a mental illness. If you need to call the police on a loved one or someone you know who has a mental illness because of erratic or psychotic behavior, let the police know that he or she suffers from a mental illness. According to the Sacramento Bee, Giat Van Truong, a 35-year-old man wh... Sherrie morganforms comment-19712 2009-12-22T01:56:59Z 2009-12-22T01:56:59Z Some police officers are more easily willing to shoot a person with a severe mental illness. Some officers are corrupt and hypervigilant, and as a result think severely mentally ill people are worthless and better off dead. I don't believe these shootings of some of the mentally ill are just from police ignorance or accident. I'm mentally ill and 5150 and the officer I thought wanted to kill, like he thought I was some worthless, stupid fool. But, I was better after my hospital, completely normal and functioning again. I wasn't really mentally ill, but had just high blood pressure and anxiety. The officer thought I was severly mentally ill, and I believe all this officer could see was some severe mental illness going on with me, as if I was nothing but a nutcase. I was treated disrespectfully, lost my job, almost beat up by another patient in the nutward, and never felt quite myself again. I could have recovered in a regular hospital for two days, but since this officer had to insist I was a '5150', I almost lost my life from the brutal treatment. I"ve never been so close to my casket before in my life. I did contemplate suicide after the long psychiatric hospital. After getting out was when I was closest to a suicide because of being treated meanly and being shamed for my state of mind and treated like a wasted human in a nutward. I have two college degrees, a 3 page resume, 4 years of martial arts, been in ballet, dance, and have been an outstanding person, only to be treated like garbage. It's was obvious my problem was medical when the doctor found I was having PMS with high blood pressure, not a mental illness. morganforms 2009-12-22T01:56:59Z katcamp comment-19436 2009-12-17T05:41:08Z 2009-12-17T05:41:08Z There are two completely different ways to view what happened and two different views to prevent it from happening again. Both views are respectively understood. We must remember that the mentally challenged far too often are left behind to fend for themselves with no place to turn. I see the only answer for a solution is more funding to create additional programs. Controversy is necessary to bring awareness. Awareness is necessary to bring changes. Hats off to you Ms. Tyler for confronting difficult issues. katcamp 2009-12-17T05:41:08Z Sherrie Tyler comment-19368 2009-12-16T04:02:28Z 2009-12-16T04:02:28Z Dale, thanks for your input! Sherrie Tyler 2009-12-16T04:02:28Z Dale Kooyman comment-19367 2009-12-16T03:44:03Z 2009-12-16T03:44:03Z Sherrie, I was on the Homeless Board when PERT was implemented here. It was based on a very successful San Diego program that created a team of mental health workers and police to help mentally ill there. Here mental health and social service providers objected strongly to law enforcement getting any of the funds. They contended that only the providers should get the money because dealing with the mentally ill was just part of PD's job. Dale Kooyman 2009-12-16T03:44:03Z cogmeyer comment-19345 2009-12-15T23:20:01Z 2009-12-15T23:20:01Z A person attacks and grabs the nightstick of a police officer for many reasons. It may be drugs, mental illness, suicidal tendencies (death by cop), an attempt to flee, or any attempt from a lucid criminal to harm an officer. In a perfect world nobody would hurt anybody. In the real world I prefer that officers rely on their trained response for when they are attacked so that he/she is the one to return home to his/her family that night. Do you really believe the officer or anybody in the sheriff's department wanted to see the death of a mentally ill person? Or that somehow that shooting the guy was the "easy option" for the officer? The title of the article should highlight that an officer was punched in the face and beaten with his own nightstick but luckily was able to survive, but unfortunately had to shoot the assailant. Have some respect! cogmeyer 2009-12-15T23:20:01Z Adamtwlv comment-19325 2009-12-15T18:22:00Z 2009-12-15T18:22:00Z When a mentally ill person has a break down to the point of being violent they can be the most dangerous person for law enforcement to deal with. They do not have the ability to reason and have internal forces that are propelling them down a path that is very difficult to change during that episode. If their actions turn to a nature that the officer must defend themselves, then that is the path that must be taken. Please do not condemn any officer that goes home at night. Their duties require them to be placed in situations that may not be able to be resolved in any manner other than death. If a family knows their loved one has the potential and probable likely hood of becoming violent, then I believe it is their responsibility to place them in a facility or get treatment that can manage their issues. I have seen this in many communities with different results. Rohnert Park officer having to defend themselves by killing a "deranged man" . On the other hand, Deputy Lee from the Riverside S.O. was killed after he was beaten to death by his own baton by a mentally ill man. No family will be happy with any outcome of death, be it the officer or the family of the mentally ill. So, Families with psychotic members take care to not let your loved ones get into or put an officer in the position to make that decision. Adamtwlv 2009-12-15T18:22:00Z Andrew Pettit comment-19324 2009-12-15T17:42:01Z 2009-12-15T17:42:01Z The title of your article is very misleading and not fair to all the men and women of the Sacramento Police Department. Your whole article refers to an incident in Sacramento County not in the City of Sacramento. Your article has some valid points of notifying law enforcement that someone may have a mental issue however, if someone is violent regardless of mental issues, alcohol, drugs, or other issues then the Officer must protect any victims and themselves. Officers always try to resolve conflicts non-violently but the unfortunate part of the job is that sometimes through the best of efforts it is not possible. Even the best of trained mental health professionals will at times call the police on a mental ill patient who is acting out violently. Andrew Pettit 2009-12-15T17:42:01Z Sherrie Tyler comment-19287 2009-12-15T03:42:03Z 2009-12-15T03:42:03Z Rhonda Erwin, thanks for your comment. I am wondering what happened to the funding for the PERT program as well. Sherrie Tyler 2009-12-15T03:42:03Z Rhonda Erwin comment-19286 2009-12-15T02:44:29Z 2009-12-15T02:44:29Z I remember attending the county forum held in December 2005 after reading on the SPD website Police Chief Najera's plea for community members to stand behind PERT (Police Emergency Reponse Team) once a proposition granted funding for the mentally ill. At the forum many agencies who work with the mentally ill were present as well as many within law enforcment. It was really sad to see so many stand before the panel requesting funding within law enforcement and so many community members with severe mental illness being overlooked by some because they wanted the funding to enhance LE departments. Money was available and again so many looked at money and how it could enhance their departments and not at the people..... Anyway thank you Sherrie Tyler for sharing your information. I wonder whatever happened to the PERT program? Whatever happened to the funding for the proposition which was to go to and for programs for emergency response to and for the mentally ill? I was one of the community members who spoke at the forum and while youth violence was embraced by many in the room none of the funding went towards families mentally, emotionally, psychologically affected by violence and I was okay with that having heard many dreadful stories by many who appeared more in need. I recall hearing so many with severe disabilities such as schizophrenia speak of feelings of separation of thought and emotion of delusion and bizarre behavior and their fear of Law enforcement being the first response..... It would be interesting to learn if the funding had an impact or if once again people were lost in the shuffle and dollars trickled down everywhere but to the people in need? Rhonda Erwin 2009-12-15T02:44:29Z HonestAbe comment-19280 2009-12-15T02:20:12Z 2009-12-15T02:20:12Z An officer, in the defense of the weal of the community, must be held to and congratulated for, both the vicissitudes and delights of his successes and failures. HonestAbe 2009-12-15T02:20:12Z Sherrie Tyler comment-19277 2009-12-15T01:28:26Z 2009-12-15T01:28:26Z When I wrote police officer I mean law enforcement in general...I also want to say that the Police/Sheriff departments work very hard and are unfortunately overworked and underpaid. I have a mental illness myself and have encountered the police many times through out my life... and from what I can remember they are usually very nice to me. But that is because they were informed in advance that I have a mental illness. It is a scary thought for me that if I did get out of control or become violent (which I am not usually) that I may be hurt or even killed. Sherrie Tyler 2009-12-15T01:28:26Z BSmeter comment-19276 2009-12-15T01:15:38Z 2009-12-15T01:15:38Z The shooting officer is from Sac County Sheriff's Department, not Sac Police Department. Two different cultures. BSmeter 2009-12-15T01:15:38Z