Put the weapon down, Sir.
Put the weapon down. The only time
we ever hear about law enforcement
and confrontation with mentally
ill persons is that that person
is in some way injured or killed.
If an officer kills someone
who's in a mental health crisis,
we hear about it but we don't hear
about is every day on the street
multiple times a day across our state.
Officers are confronting people who
are mentally ill and often can be a
threat to themselves or to others.
The weapon.
The real question we're asking is is
Colorado providing mental health services?
People need around the state
and the answer is no.
There's been numerous times
that I've been finished.
I've left the patient with with
the mental health counselor left,
gone to the station,
finished my paperwork, come back out,
and then patients walking down
the street in front of me.
What we're hearing
from cops on the street
and deputies in jails.
Is that most of their days now are
spent dealing with people who are
mentally ill and these aren't.
Professional mental health providers.
These are law enforcement officers.
Let me help you please.
Counties in the state of Colorado
are now spending millions of dollars
dealing with mental health issues where
the state of Colorado can't provide
the care that these people need.
We have a safety net system safety
net being the behavior health system
that guarantees services, right?
That doesn't guarantee services
and that's that's a problem.
The lack of access to
mental health services is having
a dramatic impact on towns
and cities across Colorado.
You're seeing more people on the
street who have mental health issues.
You're seeing mental health
calls to 911 on a daily basis.
You're seeing cops on the street
dealing with mentally ill people,
more than dealing with a robbery in progress.
You're seeing deputies in jails,
being trained to deal with
mentally ill people.
So it's really changing the complexion
of law enforcement and the criminal
justice system in the state of Colorado.
It is part of our job, but I can't do a
burglary in progress because I'm doing.
I'm doing one mental patient or party,
having a bad day after another.
I need your help to help you if you'll let me
do it. What was
really amazing to me is we had these
conversations with people around the state,
both people who had been in mental health
crises and also law enforcement is the
compassion law enforcement officers have.
For mentally ill persons who are in crisis,
I will tell you I'm gonna get you some
help we're going to start right now
I'm gonna get you over here today and
we're going to get it taken care of OK?
In one case we had an officer
who was paralyzed by a person
in crisis. We are often the last line of
defensive and trying to get them the help
they need. I think there could have been
more provided to him to become healthy.
More more resources, more education
on his part and on his family's
part and only we talked to the
officers about this and in terms
of their own training and how they
must deal with people who are in
this situation in this crisis.
But we've also been able to talk with.
The people in crisis have come down
from that crisis and talk with them
about how they got there and the lack
of access to care that they need and
how often they have tried to get care.
Tried to get services but couldn't
and finally have spun out of control.
Put your hands behind your back
like this, no, I could have died.
I'm lucky that I was not shot and
killed by the police and what
we're seeing here is really the
abdication of responsibility of
the state tored the mentally ill,
and that responsibility is being pushed
over to the criminal justice system to
the courts to cops on the street and
to the deputies in the jails around
Colorado. I don't think it's fair
for these mentally ill people
that there's not enough resources.
There's not enough.
Facilities for them to go
and get the proper treatment.
This stage failing these people.
We can do more.
We will do more.
Working on a project like
this takes hundreds of hours.
Going through records,
documenting cases where police shootings
have involved mentally ill person
or person in mental health crisis,
getting statistics from all the
jails around the state of Colorado
traveling all over the state,
talking to sheriff's and police
officers going into case files,
figuring out the detail of a
specific case where officers have
interceded and save someone's life.
All of these things take time.
And they take energy and I think
one of the things that around the
state of Colorado we've found is,
is that when we say we're from Rocky
Mountain, PBS people are saying,
OK, we know you're credible.
OK, we know you're trying to do
the right thing and I think that's
been one of the most gratifying
things in this project.
And so many other projects.