Franz deFreitas is supporting a call for police officers to receive specialized training to deal with persons who suffer from mental-health issues.
His plea follows the killing of 40-year-old Andrew Noyce, who reportedly had been battling mental challenges for some time.
Noyce was shot by the Police after he failed to lay down two knives he allegedly was carrying while displaying threatening behaviour.
In other parts of the world, deFreitas says, officers must undergo this type of training, learning how to de-escalate a situation and prevent injury to the offender, the officer and others.
DeFreitas, the United Progressive Party Candidate for St. John’s City South, believes that some basic training should also take place once recruits enter the training school.
While officers have to protect themselves, he says, the emphasis should be on protecting the lives of all involved in a situation.
Meanwhile, deFreitas says that mental-health issues impact not only older residents, but the youth are afflicted by these illnesses, as well.
He notes that large numbers of people are dealing with such problems; therefore, more must be done and mechanisms put in place to deal with them.
Recent violent incidents involving mentally challenged persons have resulted in at least three deaths, including that of a police officer at the St. John’s Police Station. (REAL NEWS)
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Absolutely correct, but I would go a step further.
Once someone has a recognised mental disorder, there should be some sort of organisation that should be contacted – like a special needs group -, as well as the police, who specialise and knows how to handle these very difficult situations with mental disorders.
TRAINING? You are the one who really needs the training…. You need training to learn how to spell words & stop pappy yourself around the place….. The police on the otherhand has got enough basic training how to carry out their police duties especially in an incident like that…. It is the law that needs to deal with these police officers who do not exercise common sense and uses their position & uniform to do ignorance and overstep their bounds….. We are living in a small community where persons are well known….. Before the police shot the young man, was he not identified as crazy, while the police was trying apprehend him? That was enough for the officers to exercise common sense
Stiff competition between him and Pearl “FOOTS” Quinn who still can’t explain why she “left” the bank. Is it true that she had 2 CONSECUTIVE PISS POOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS or not???
Pearl come tell the people how e go. The people whose affairs you want to “manage”
Last Police officer that exercise common sense when dealing with a crazy man got killed by said crazy man. So, what exactly is common sense. The man had a knife. The law give Police guns and authority to use such.. I will like to know what Officer Bluddy Broke would of done in this situation.
@RON…… The target could only within an arm’s length radius / range… So the officer should back off out of that arm’s length range and then aim to shoot the perpetrator in the leg in order to disarm him of his weapon….. The young man did not deserve his death in that manner. The army are the ones trained to kill….. Police are trained to save lives and uphold the law
Give me a break, you see the problem with you people is that y’all watch too much movies. When someone is charging at you with a deadly weapon at close range do you think police have any time to aim precisely in the leg/arm when you have only about a fraction of a second to respond under stress??. GET REAL!
BEGGY BEGGY Franz, first things first – are you the holder of a U.S. passport?
1).Are/Were you a member of a church in NY?
2).Why do u struggle so much with SPELLING and COMPREHENSION??
“G-R-E-A-T-F-U-L”??????
“CATASTROPHIC Reforms” for our Education system??
“fought the FART”???
You are at the bottom of the pole in the upp polls. UPP people vex that u jus “coom beck” and got handpicked to replace the late Mikey Burton. You (and Paul) are OUT OF TOUCH with the cultural, social, political and economic landscape of Antigua and Barbuda. Spent wayyyyyyy too many years in Trump country.
U NAH READY YET dude!
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