‘Tragic outcomes’: Mentally ill face fatal risk with police
By ANDREW SELSKY and LEAH WILLINGHAM
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — People experiencing mental health crises have been being killed by police in America. But how many is unknown. Federal law requires the Department of Justice to collect and publish data on that. But the law doesn’t require police departments to tell the DOJ how many people their officers killed, and many aren’t doing so. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says the killings highlight a larger systemic problem in helping people who are struggling with their mental health or are in crisis. Two killings, in Oregon and West Virginia, show how system failures had tragic results.
