Yep. The training a US police officer gets would basically be unacceptable in Europe. In the US there is a mythos that says "Police work is a craft and you can only really learn in on the job.". Well there are big holes in that. I should learn unarmed combatives by fighting real resisting suspects? I should learn mental health crisis intervention by being thrown head first into a "altered mental status" call? I should learn deescalation after 3-6 credit hours at the academy teaching me theory and then feel it out on the street?
Did I have to do most of the above? Yep. But we have a saying in many circles here..."you aren't a real cop until you have been on the job for 5 years." In a job with the dynamics of LE that, imo, is simply not acceptable. Yes you will need the experience but what other career, especially one with influence over life and death finds that acceptable?
I really appreciate people mentioning mental health. Like my father tells me, there are plenty of people with bi polar disorder in prison. I've never been to prison, but I did go to jail for assault. I have a pending lawsuit with the hospital and the police force. I got into a fight in a mental institution but instead of going to a higher security institution, they sent me to jail. Cops treated me terribly, disrespected my illnesses. I had to get irrate with them just to go lie down in the drunk tank. Then they tried to frame me. They showed me my leather jacket that had about an 8 of weed in it. I know that was planted because before I went to that hospital, I was transferred by ambulance. i got into my car, took out all of my weed before going. If anything, there would have been shake that was so small it couldn't be weighed. They showed me the jacket, asked me if it were mine, I said yes and then when it was time to leave, they lied to me and said I only brought in two bags. I even had the sheet with both of my bags on it and they still called me a liar. i had about 500 worth of clothes in that bag!
The mental healthcare industry is in shambles, not just in the training for cops. This is something I am an expert on because I've spent so much time in institutions. They are underfunded and their staff is under educated, at least here in my area. I can't say how many times I saw med malpractice at "the best" instution around here. Due to their mistakes, one of my friends nearly died from a suicide attempt. They were understaffed and couldn't provide the proper amount of care to their patients. One patient suffered from seizures--no one on one. Another, my friend, sleep walked and there was no line of site on her, they were too busy laughing and carrying on when she walked headlong into a wall. The doctor didn't give her nurses the memo that I was only supposed to take 200 mg of Trazodone, so they forced 400 onto me. I took it like an obedient soma zombie and woke up sick and hung over. I talked to the doctor that day and she told me to tell them I'm only going to take 200. It doesn't work that way. They need a memo from her. They tried it again the next night and I took what i was supposed to take and handed it back to them. Nobody had the common sense to check on this because 400 is enough to tranquilize an elephant. i saw the doc in the hallway the next day, told her she needs to write a memo (I love being sick in a hospital and having to tell a doctor how to do his/her job). She said yes, but it still was a problem. I had to argue with the staff until the head nurse started to use her brain and check on it.
These guys did help me tremendously. They helped me crack my egg of negativity. When I first got out, I went to their free group therapy sessions. Those have been very unsuccessful. People come and don't come back. Part of the problem is poor group managers. They had absolutely no control over the group setting in patient and disrespected me, my illness, in the outpatient group, so I'm done with them. They gave me the tools I need. It's up to me to work those tools. They no longer offer me anything of worth.
I'm not a proponent of our modern health care system. When was the last time they actually cured anything? Seems to me like they just want to push poisons onto you, make you even sicker, maybe even exacerbate the problems you're taking the meds for anyway. Many of the docs, especially the nurses, have no clue about natural remedies or diet. I used to get so frustrated when I went into the hospital with severe intestinal swelling, ask for a dietitian/nutritionist (I can't remember which) and they gave me this one-size-fits-all advice and diet plan. They can't even say why I'm getting sick, or what foods are making me sick, they just said "do not eat these types of food when having a flair."
I've had it with Big Pharma and the industry they've created. They discredit all natural therapies (some hospitals are forward thinking and actually have a doctor in this field on hand). They act like people can't heal themselves. While our modern society can see things like germs and diseases, that shouldn't take away from folk mediicine that people used for thousands of years. They just seem to want you to believe you can't heal yourself, but I say they can't heal me!
I don't see how prescribing meds for mental health issues is even a science. It is a crap shoot. "Take this for a while and then when it no longer works, we'll switch you to something else." I've had my meds changed, sometimes within a week, so often that I get confused about what I'm suppose to take. I have this box of meds that is so big in my kitchen, sometimes I think I'm out of a med because I simply can not find it.
So I had a med mix up and called my provider to get back on the anti depression. She said to call her if I get a life-threatening rash. "If I get a life-threatening rash?" Seriously. Lithium gave me sever tremors so I went off that. But this comment about the rash made something click for me. If I have to go to the hospital because my mind is spinning out of control, then I will. Otherwise, I'm going to treat these illnesses naturally, go to therapy and do the things i'm suppose to do to promote good health. I got serious about my health, especially diet, and have been doing a lot better without their assistance. i know people in these industries will read this and think i'm going down the wrong path, but after dealing with these issues for over two decades, I actually feel well for the first time. Like the old adage says, "if it aint broke, don't fix it!)
