Interfacing With the Mentally Ill – Police Training Video 01

Interfacing with the Mentally ill – Police Training Video 01 – Booked for Safekeeping (Part I) (1960); Fascinating documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons, produced in New Orleans by eminent filmmaker George C. Stoney using real New Orleans police officers as actors. A little-known ethnographic classic that is strongly rooted in the place where it was made. The film is correct in advocating that mentaly ill people be held in the least restrictive environment possible, particularly NOT in a jail cell unless absolutly essential. Demonstrates the proper management of mentally ill persons by members of the large city police department to prepare the mentally ill persons for their subsequent medical treatment. Describes the different types of mentally disturbed people a police officer must deal with, such as the senile, the mentally retarded, and the attempted suicides. Stresses the need to talk with the family to get a person’s background, using the case of a mental patient who feels his neighbors are planning to kill im. Shows a case in which a policeman handles a mentally disturbed person improperly. Points out the need for 24-hour medical help for police offices who deal with the mentally disturbed. This early 60s police training film, made in New Orleans, was designed to educate officers in how to handle people who are mentally ill, a type of situation that is more common in police work than you might think. The film is quite well-made and realistic, showing us …

State Department: Mexican Security Forces Engaged in "Unlawful Killings …

Filed under: drug abuse training

A new report from the US State Department reveals that Mexican police and the military have "engaged in unlawful killings, forced disappearances, and instances of physical abuse and torture" while carrying out the US-backed war on drugs.
Read more on Reason Online (blog)