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KNOW WHO TO CALL
The recent unfortunate incidents involving people with a mental health crisis might have been handled better if everyone was informed of the phone numbers to call instead of 911. The 911 number is for incidents that can be handled by the police. For mental health emergencies, there is 988. For local mental health crises, there is 217-788-7070. I keep these numbers in my phone.
A few months ago, I saw a young man on a street corner who was having some kind of mental health issue. I called 988 and was told that is a national help line. They gave me the 217-788-7070 number, which I called. Within a few minutes, an ambulance was there.
Sarah Thomas
Springfield
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STOP HIRING BAD COPS
Beth Hundsdorfer's article was an unacceptable obfuscation of the real problem ("A deadly delay," Sept. 12). The cop in question would have killed someone eventually even if the Community Emergency Services and Supports Act (CESSA) was in place. He was primed for it, and showed a pattern of volatile behavior before he was even hired as a cop. His callousness displayed on the camera footage after he murdered Sonya Massey shows he never saw her as a person to begin with.
No person experiencing a mental health crisis or otherwise should be shot in the head over a pot of boiling water. No person should be intentionally murdered by a cop for any reason. Execution without due process is called a police state, which is inherently anti-democratic and anti-American. If a person cannot be trusted not to murder someone in crisis, then that person shouldn't be given a deadly weapon by the government and authorization to use it at will.
The problem, as displayed by advocates pushing for CESSA in the first place, is that citizens don't trust those who are supposedly tasked with protecting us. We, as a people, see modern-day policing as inherently violent with no accountability. We want something different. Something more compassionate. Something better.
There are several things we can do to correct this: End qualified immunity, accurately track volatile people so they cannot simply travel from department to department and make police unions pay off families after their members murder citizens. Maybe then we will see a decrease in volatile people hired as cops. Maybe then our taxpayer dollars won't be used to employ people who murder us, or on massive settlements after the fact. Maybe then we will see people think twice before they use their badge as a shield for reckless and cowardly violence. We as a society need to stop hiring thug wannabes and get people who care about the "protect" part of serve and protect.
At some point that "bad apple" rots the barrel. Fix policing before blaming those who didn't arm the man who pulled the trigger.
JK Morrison
Springfield
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REQUIRE FOID CARD
Why not make the issuing of a valid FOID card and ongoing requirement of employment and hiring for all sworn officers ("Former SPD officer indicted on drug charges," Sept. 19)? Law enforcement officers could be granted expedited FOID card processing.
C. Scott Stahlman
Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER
On NPR recently, Steve Inskeep interviewed the leader of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio. He has been in Springfield for four years since coming to the U.S. and was asked: "What did you think when you heard candidate Donald Trump during the debate say Haitians in your town were eating people's pets?" His answer was poignant.
He said a leader brings people together and does not use hateful prejudice to divide them. He was so stunned at the slander of his people he could hardly move. He said the Haitians were hard-working, dependable and thankful and loyal to America. The former rust-belt city has been rejuvenated by their energy and good citizenship.
Roy Wehrle
Springfield
