Why should law enforcement train at CIT? What is in it for the community, and how do we getresources that do not involve the use of police whenever possible. The first thing everyone needs to understand about mental illness is simply that the person didnot choose the illness; in fact, the illness chose the person. If you have no idea where it comesfrom, what causes it, or how to avoid it, then how can you be blamed for it?  Each of us grows up; we experience life differently from generation to generation, from personto person. What happens in mental illness is that a person will have a mental break, for males itis usually between the ages of 18 and 25 years of age, for Bipolar and schizophrenia.Women, it is usually later in the late 20’s to early 30’s. This can be true for major depressivedisorders as well. The issues for the citizens are that there are very limited resources available to the averageperson. Jobs, insurance, and financial stability are elusive, yet our society is built on thepremise that we are each responsible for our own outcomes. Law enforcement, being the primary responder to a person experiencing a mental healthcrisis, is fraught with issues and challenges. Mental health providers such as MCOT and otherlike entities will not respond to a violent crisis and will send calls to law enforcement dispatchcenters.  Law enforcement responds if the person is contacted by law enforcement, and there is forceused, then law enforcement is left in a situation where the people trained and responsible foraddressing the problem would not respond, and the angry family and community abuse lawenforcement because force was used.

After exploring our posts, we encourage you to learn more about the issues, share our messages with your network, and actively participate. We value your comments and questions, fostering an open dialogue to build a stronger Tooele County together. Your involvement is crucial to our shared success.