It happened June, 2014, when Shirley Marshall Harrison called 911 asking for assistance to take her son to the hospital. She told the operator her son had bipolar schizophrenia and that he was off his medications. Shirley wanted to make sure they sent trained police officers to properly deal with the situation. Two Dallas police officers responded to the call and the body cam video of one of them recorded what happened at the scene. When the officers knock on the door, Shirley answered and walked outside followed by her 38 years old son, Jason Harrison who had a screwdriver in his hand. The police officers asked him to drop the screwdriver; because Jason did not followed the officers’ instructions, he was shoot 5 times, twice in the back as
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According to the Washington Post Investigation, nationwide about 125 people with mental illness have died in the hands of a police officer in the U.S. Another interpretation of what Harrison was going through at the moment the police encounter him could’ve been symptoms such as hallucinations and disorganized behaviors. Hallucinations involve sensory experiences that might seem real to the person, so Harrison could’ve perceived the police officers as somebody else not much as authoritative figures. On the other hand, he could’ve been experiencing symptoms like disorganized behaviors like walking without direction, which could have been perceive by the officers as him approaching them in a negative (threatening) way.
As a result of Harrison’s case and many others, more officers are encourage to get training in how to properly respond to calls involving mental illness cases. For example, officer Joe Smarro and his partner Ernie Stevens are experts in what is called Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Smarro points out that what they do by having this type of training is the exact opposite of what an officer without the training would do. He says that when they walk into this type of situations they present themselves to the person as their friend, somebody that is there to help them rather than the police …show more content…
This article informs us about things that happen in our everyday life, which we might not think about everyday but that are very important. The material on this article shows us how important it is to educate people on mental illness and how to deal with situations around those lines. Having an understanding how the brain and cognitive processes of a person with a mental illness work can help us save lives. In class we learn about psychological disorders, how they develop, and how to treat it. But, we never think about situations like the Harrisons’ case, and this why I found this article so interesting. I believe this article adds to what we learn in class by expanding our understanding about mental illness and by showing us real life scenarios on how these disorders can be very harmful to the person’s
According to the Washington Post Investigation, nationwide about 125 people with mental illness have died in the hands of a police officer in the U.S. Another interpretation of what Harrison was going through at the moment the police encounter him could’ve been symptoms such as hallucinations and disorganized behaviors. Hallucinations involve sensory experiences that might seem real to the person, so Harrison could’ve perceived the police officers as somebody else not much as authoritative figures. On the other hand, he could’ve been experiencing symptoms like disorganized behaviors like walking without direction, which could have been perceive by the officers as him approaching them in a negative (threatening) way.
As a result of Harrison’s case and many others, more officers are encourage to get training in how to properly respond to calls involving mental illness cases. For example, officer Joe Smarro and his partner Ernie Stevens are experts in what is called Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Smarro points out that what they do by having this type of training is the exact opposite of what an officer without the training would do. He says that when they walk into this type of situations they present themselves to the person as their friend, somebody that is there to help them rather than the police …show more content…
This article informs us about things that happen in our everyday life, which we might not think about everyday but that are very important. The material on this article shows us how important it is to educate people on mental illness and how to deal with situations around those lines. Having an understanding how the brain and cognitive processes of a person with a mental illness work can help us save lives. In class we learn about psychological disorders, how they develop, and how to treat it. But, we never think about situations like the Harrisons’ case, and this why I found this article so interesting. I believe this article adds to what we learn in class by expanding our understanding about mental illness and by showing us real life scenarios on how these disorders can be very harmful to the person’s