America's Neo-Nazi Policing - Pt 4: Why Are Cops Shooting So Many Mentally Ill People?

Kajieme Powell: Just before he was shot dead by police - He was mentally disturbed. (Screen
capture from YouTube video)

By Terrell Jermaine Starr
Kajieme Powell, 25, was known to have suffered from mental health issues. But the cops who responded to the disturbance call on August 21 didn't know this. They ended up shooting him dead in a corner store parking lot moments after they arrived.

Powell was the fourth mentally ill person killed by police officers in a two-week time span in the U.S. The number of men and women being shot by cops recently has sparked conversations—and sharp criticsm—about law enforcement, especially how police are trained to deal with suspects who may have mental health issues.

According to the Portland Press Herald, 375 of the 500 people killed by police in 2012 had a mental disability. Since 2000, 42 percent of people shot by cops—including 58 percent of those who died from their injuries—in the state of Maine had a mental health issue. Because neither the Justice Department nor virtually any local or state entitities collect data on police shootings regarding the mentally ill, it is difficult to analyze the circumstances of these kinds of shootings without relying heavily on news reports.

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America's Neo-Nazi Policing

Part 1          Part 2         Part 3          Part 4          Part 5

Part 6          Part 7         Part 8          Part 9          Part 10

Part 11        Part 12       Part 13        Part 14        Part 15

Part 16        Part 17       Part 18        Part 19        Part 20

Part 21        Part 22       Part 23        Part 24