The_Jefferson_Exchange_08_10_2015_Hr1B.mp3
Police Chief Pete Kerns and CAHOOTS Program Manager Tim Black describe encounters with people in mental crisis.
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Police and mental illness... not an ideal combination, but one that happens all the time.
And it turned ugly last month in Eugene.
Police arrested a woman who tried to protect her son, reported to be having an episode of mental illness, from police. The woman's brother happens to be Eric Richardson, the president of the Lane County chapter of the NAACP.
He has taken his condemnation of the incident public, while police point to an ongoing issue with officers having to respond to people dealing with mental illness.
Eric Richardson has agreed to join us; we get additional perspective from Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns and Tim Black, the boss at CAHOOTS, Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets.