Police decide to walk away from apartment of man said to be armed and experiencing a mental crisis. Maybe there is hope for positive changes in policing. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
The decision to stand down and leave was the latest example of a shift in the Police Bureau, which began three years ago and encourages police officers to consider the option of walking away from people in crisis.
Portland, like the rest of America, has witnessed its share of unconscionable police
shootings and
beating resulting in unnecessary death. Typically the victim is either a minority, or experiencing a mental crises, or both. I hope this new approach is embraced by the police force, is successful and is widely adopted. Police encounters needn’t always end in a hail of bullets.