[TheWastelander]

(05-28-2015 04:45 PM)Ziltoid Wrote:  

People, for the record, do not even "call the police", they call 911, which is a general purpose dispatch for firefighters, ambulances, and law enforcement. Do you disagree somebody potentially committing suicide is an emergency? Are dispatchers trained to send police to suicide threats, yes or no? If yes, why do you think think this is the case, if it's so clearly outside of the police's purview and training?
Do you think statistically the vast majority of suicidal people are hell bent on harming anyone who tries to stop them or are too mentally unstable to control themselves?

The amount of mental hoops you're jumping through here to lukewarmly defend what was obviously fucking stupid behavior and judgement on part of the police is just embarrassing, dude. Why?

1. The woman called a non-emergency number and reported he had a knife.

2. They then most likely called 911 because she told them he had a knife, which elevated it to an an emergency in their mind. If she took his bottle of vodka way why didn't she take his knife away?

3. Yes, dispatchers are trained to send police to respond to suicide threats, especially ones involving people with weapons. A suicide threat involving someone with a weapon is no longer considered a non-emergency.

4. There is a vast difference between me saying they should not be forced into dealing with this sort of thing and saying they aren't which I've either failed to communicate effectively or it's something you're misunderstanding.

5. If someone is willing to do violence to themselves who is to say they won't do violence to others as well? I'm not a mental health professional and I couldn't tell you whether they would or wouldn't and neither are the police, yet everyone expects them to be.

How would you have handled the situation? You should try to put yourself in their shoes.