Here is the perfect opportunity for the “Defund the Police”, crowd to show that their theories will work. Chinese virus meets “Defund the Police”, a grudge match. The Sheriff of Butler County says he is not in the public health business. He won’t enforce the governor’s mandatory mask order. What to do?

https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/09/butler-county-ohio-sheriff-richard-jones-mask-mandate-enforce/

The solution is obvious and already in place. Butler County has a Department of Public Health. Their mission, between 8 am and 5 pm, nights weekends and holidays off, is to protect the public. That is provided the public can find their office. We’re medical professionals, “we don’t make no stinkin’ house calls.” http://health.bcohio.us/

Butler County Public Health even has a SWAT team, of sorts, called the MDC. They get to wear cute blue vests to signify their elite status. All they need now is a ticket book and they are ready to confront the great unmasked.

The MRC Unit will deescalate the level of confrontation. After all who would hurt a grandmotherly type?

Meet Randy Lewis

Randy Lewis stabbed to death an 80 year old Houston woman while attempting to steal her car. Lewis’s criminal career was documented by 70 charges. There will not be a 71st. Lewis died, very suddenly, at the scene. Never bring a knife to a gun fight.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/05/16/officer-involved-shooting-reported-in-southwest-houston/

It’s a jungle out there.

The reality is that public health and mental health facilities have been in place in most communities for decades. The typical model these agencies follow only allows for services to be delivered at set times and locations. I guess they are unfamiliar with free range crazies, howling at the moon.

As a cop, I was brought up in the culture of do the right thing, right now. I soon learned that a variation of the refrain of that Dr John song “Such A Night,” held true. “If I don’t do it somebody nobody else will…” Unfortunately, my context was different that Dr. John’s.

Law enforcement has been screwing up for a long time. They have tried to handle every rotten job that nobody else would do. Cops entered into situations where they knew they couldn’t win. They went anyway because to refuse to go was a worse alternative.

Ever done a body recovery in a watery cave? I have.

How about CPR? Yup, about thirty times. Only person I successfully resuscitated was a 90 year old terminal cancer patient with a DNR order.

Held the hand of a dying man at a car accident, listened to his last dying gasp and felt the quiver as he passed? I have.

Been called to spank an errant fifteen year old, because mama and daddy couldn’t? Yup, I passed on the spanking.

Run into a burning home at two in the morning to evacuate the family?
Yup, junior passed out drunk and lit his mattress on fire. I had to fight him, one handed, every step of the way out. I had the burning mattress in the other hand.

I used to coordinate a basic police academy. I taught a segment titled, “Police Officer’s role in Society.” During the lecture I would pose a question to the class. “Based on your own experience and society’s expectations what role are police officers expected to perform? Give me one word examples, such as occupations or tasks.” I wrote their answers on the white board.

Once the class got going. I was able to fill up the board, usually around thirty possibilities. Then I threw the follow up question to the class. “How many in the class possessed the necessary licenses, certifications or education to perform any of those roles?”

We went back through the list. I crossed out all of the roles for which they were unqualified. The list quickly shrunk. At the end I pointed out that now they knew something the public would never understand. They weren’t Superman, but were expected to perform at his level.

Do I think that sending mental health professionals out on calls to deal with wackos in their natural environment is a good idea? No, but I’m not opposed to requiring that public health agencies maintain a 24/7 response with enough depth of staffing to handle multiple responses. Then they could supplement the cops.

I have no problem with community based programs. Course I would point out that jails and prisons are both communities. Taking a wacko off the street is nothing more than a change of address.

Take the cops off the street and communities will come up with a solution. As Aristotle observed, “horror va·​cui” (Nature abhors a vacuum)