It would appear by this harebrained scheme that the first person in need of a psychiatrist is the “honorable” mayor herself. The befuddled mayor reeling from a surging crime-wave in the “windy city” has decided to pair mental health professionals with paramedics on some 911 calls within the troubled areas of Chicago.
The pilot program will dispatch both a paramedic along with mental health professional for so called “behavioral health calls.” On its face this approach sounds extremely reasonable and even benign, however 911 calls by their very nature can quickly escalate into violent confrontation putting both the paramedic and the psychiatrist in harm’s way.
No doubt this is Lightfoot’s answer to “reimagining policing” rather than attempting to stem the surging retirement of experienced police officers who are leaving in record numbers. This year alone between January and June over 363 police officers have left the department compared to 339 in 2018, with many more putting into retirement early within the next couple of months.
Lightfoot is under immense pressure to do something which can be extremely dangerous for her since she’s obviously in way over her head. Simply put, the Democratic mayor has never been a leader and uses her race as the only excuse to hide her incompetence.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Clashes Again with NEWSMAX Reporter Over Violent Crime In City pic.twitter.com/79Cxg7v8dC
— Dowop Robinson (@dowop_robinson) July 3, 2021
This latest folly has dangerous implications written all over it. For example, what would happen if these unarmed responders suddenly found themselves in an extremely violent environment? How would they be able to de-escalate that situation? With kind words or mantras?
Chicago began implementing its crisis intervention program after the senseless deaths of Laquan McDonald and Quintonio LeGrier, two teenage boys who apparently had mental issues and were shot by police officers responding to a 911 call.
Obviously the use of force by police in these two instances was wrong and ultimately tragic. However Lightfoot’s pilot program goes even further by emphasizing a “public health approach” in responding to 911 calls.
Alex Heaton, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s policy adviser for public safety said; “We’re super excited. This is a brand new workforce for the city, and it’s an exciting opportunity to use a public health approach for people likely to come in contact with the first responder system.”
The program will be operational by August, and comes with a $3.5 million dollar price tag.
Lightfoot’s approach in reducing crime is severely out of touch with what is actually taking place in the inner city of Chicago. This program (while well intentioned) puts unarmed city employees in peril.
Moreover, according to Superintendent David Brown, violent gang members outnumber the police by roughly 10 to 1. That staggering number becomes even more pronounced when one sees the actual lopsided figures of roughly 117,000 gang members compared to 13,000 police officers.
Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera, citing those numbers exclaimed; “All you can do with this defund the police nonsense is ignore the fact that you are essentially assigning a third-world existence to a huge segment of the population all in the name of anti-racism.“
According to recent crime statistics released by the Chicago Police Department, the city’s crime wave is continuing with no letup in sight. In March 2021 there were 233 shooting incidents compared to March of 2020 where just 146 shooting incidents occurred.
The police report also acknowledged that Homicides are up almost 35% from the same time last year.
The only question left to be answered is how many paramedics and mental health professionals will have to die before Chicago comes to it’s senses?
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