Police should use crisis teams to deal with people in psychiatric emergencies.

Re “Jury awards $6.5 million to family in deputy’s shooting of mentally ill son” (sacbee.com, Sept. 27) It is with great sadness that I have followed the story of Jonathan Rose, the mentally ill man who was killed in his parent's home by a sheriff's deputy. Many municipalities have a Crisis Assessment Team, consisting of an officer and a social worker or counselor, to respond to cases involving people with mental illness. These teams are specially trained in how to deal with someone in a psychiatric emergency and can often diffuse a situation, rather than escalate it, while evaluating the need for medical intervention. I hope Sacramento will consider forming a Crisis Assessment Team to deal with these situations in the future.

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Police should use crisis teams to deal with people in psychiatric emergencies.."