As an American, I like the idea of separating medical, child protection, and police services. How many times was care delayed or forgone entirely for fear of police, let alone people killed, injured, or financially destroyed because a cop responded to a medical/mental episode?
Are people nervous that if they say “My friend is ODing”, the police will show up too? If they say someone suffered a gunshot wound, is care going to be delayed until the police give an OK to the ambulance? If someone is having a psychotic break and waving a knife around threatening to kill everyone, who shows up first?
Although our police is still part of the machine and there are cases of overreach and brutality, in general they’re way better at de-escalation and handling disturbed people than Us-american police.
As an American, I like the idea of separating medical, child protection, and police services. How many times was care delayed or forgone entirely for fear of police, let alone people killed, injured, or financially destroyed because a cop responded to a medical/mental episode?
I can only speak about Germany, where the 112 is primarily the number for fire or medical emergencies and only indirectly for police.
Are people nervous that if they say “My friend is ODing”, the police will show up too? If they say someone suffered a gunshot wound, is care going to be delayed until the police give an OK to the ambulance? If someone is having a psychotic break and waving a knife around threatening to kill everyone, who shows up first?
Although our police is still part of the machine and there are cases of overreach and brutality, in general they’re way better at de-escalation and handling disturbed people than Us-american police.