[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE PROPOSAL: Herzog/Mathews

[jl at u.washington.edu]

Subtitle: POLICE ARE NOT MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS
Title: Holes in the Social Service Safety Net

Last month King County deputy Richard Herzog was killed with his own weapon while attempting to apprehend the mentally ill, highly agitated Ronald Mathews,  recently released from prison on a drug sentence. The incident, termed an “execution” in mainstream news coverage, has raised questions on our newswire about our community’s <a href=”http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=15527”>lack of social services</a> for the mentally ill  and the tremendous burden placed on police forces untrained as <a href=”http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=15586”>mental health workers</a>. Another writer argues that haphazardly-administered prison <a href=”http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=15607”>drug treatment programs</a> may have helped lead to this incident, and calls for “a serious debate about the manner in which psychiatric drugs are being pushed on inmates and suspected criminals.”