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Support group concerned about police response to incidents involving mentally ill people

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Carol Narcisse
 
Mental health support group Mensana has is concerned about the response of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in incidents involving people who are mentally ill. 
 
The group raised the concern following Sunday's incident in Martha Brae, Trelawny involving a mentally ill man. 
 
Leon White, 28, was shot dead during a confrontation with the police after he fatally chopped his 56 year old mother Esmeralda Gordon and his five year old nephew Levon Walker with a machete.  
 
In an interview with RJR News Monday morning, co-founder of Mensana, Carol Narcisse, said the JCF needs to develop policies that can reduce the likelihood of persons with mental health issues being killed when they are in confrontation with law enforcers. 
 
She argued that the training of police officers in the area of dealing with persons with mental illness is unacceptable, noting that in almost all cases, these persons end up dead after a confrontation with the police.  
 
"Yes, if someone is wielding a machete, you have to take self protective action. But surely, an armed police officer is in a far more advantageous position to disarm the person without it resulting in the use of lethal force," she asserted. 
 


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