sometimes people experiencing psychosis and/or mania will come up to you on the street and talk in confusing or upsetting ways. your job is to either have a regular human-to-human conversation with that person or politely leave. your job is not to call 911. do not call 911. you might kill that person if you call 911.
I don't even have the energy to screenshot and respond to your tags- what the actual fuck is wrong with you? "the cops are scared and rightfully so" "mental health calls are the scariest for cops" OH so this isn't about the safety of psychotic & manic people this is about piggy feelings?
and no, actually, this is not USA specific and no, actually, people from other countries should not ignore this post. police violence and sanism weren't invented in the US and they are certainly not unique to here. if you (or anyone) thinks that this bullshit doesn't happen elsewhere then you are not listening.
cops r Some Guy with a Gun
do we want Some Guy with a Gun in this situation? answer is usually "NO"
This is legitimately useful reframing. A while ago I started replacing the word "cop" in my vocabulary with "a man with a gun." It really puts things into perspective.
This homeless person is making me uncomfortable. Should I call [a man with a gun]?
My neighbor is having a loud party. Should I get [a man with a gun] involved?
There are some teenagers skateboarding. Do you think [a man with a gun] would get rid of them for me?
It makes it very clear what you're saying. I can call a man with a gun to threaten or hurt someone mildly inconveniencing me. You're not calling the cops, you're calling A MAN WITH A GUN into a situation that does not warrant a firearm handled by a volatile lunatic who will not be held accountable for his actions.
^ ^ ^
Oh cool, I guess I'm fine to call the cops then, since here in Britain they don't carry guns!
I'm sure the [LACK OF GUN] will ensure that the cops treat the mentally ill person with respect and dignity, and they won't do any violence to them at all! The key thing that makes cops a dangerous threat to marginalised people, after all, is [POSSESSION OF GUN]!
Which, no, that's obviously stupid.
The problem with calling the cops isn't "they carry guns"; that's just a condition which makes the problem worse. The problem with calling the cops is that they are trained to see every disruption of the status-quo as TERRIBLE CRIME, and trained to have no empathy for anyone they can frame as a criminal
And their response to "crime", whether they have a gun or not is threats, escalating to violence, and often ending in incarceration if the violence stops before it becomes murder.
I've seen Americans post before "lol how do the cops in Britain arrest people if they don't have guns I'd just leave" and it's reflective of an absolutely insane cultural blindspot.
Cops here are generally physically powerful people, trained to hurt you, carrying batons and pepper spray, and sometimes a taser. They don't need a gun to brutalise you.
I'm really glad our cops aren't generally better armed, because this does make them somewhat less likely to outright kill their victims, but I really would like y'all to remember that police violence is not a byproduct of giving them firearms, but of the mentality they are indoctrinated with.
Which mentality, to be clear, is ultimately a direct offspring of the same one which makes people call the cops on mentally unwell people to begin with.
