Eagan Police Chief Troubled by Increase in Mental Health Calls
Two high-profile police standoffs involving Eagan officers earlier this year are part of a bigger problem, according to Jim McDonald.
Follow Eagan Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter The police standoff on Deerwood Drive in Eagan started when a man with mental health issues threatened a family member with a gun. It ended when the suspect surrendered peacefully to a force of more than 40 police officers, who shut down an entire neighborhood and set up a mobile command post and roadblocks to keep bystanders safe during the hours-long standoff. Taken alone, the high-profile standoff is troubling enough. But Eagan Police Chief Jim McDonald sees the incident as a symptom of an even more worrying trend in law enforcement: The increase in both quantity and severity of mental health-related calls. In 2007, Eagan police responded to a total …
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Bryan Taff
5:11 pm on Monday, November 12, 2012
Just curious, how many of the "mental health" calls were bogus calls made by a person who was pissed off at the suspected mental health case. How many guns have been taken as a result? Bryan (jtaff@woh.rr.com) more ›