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How Much Mental Health Training Is There For Police?

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Chicago police officers surround a police vehicle as they watch demonstrators protesting the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald December 18 in Chicago, Illinois. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Chicago police officers surround a police vehicle as they watch demonstrators protesting the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald December 18 in Chicago, Illinois. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

After another police shooting, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for a review of how police officers are trained to deal with situations involving people with mental health issues. There are training programs available in Chicago, but advocates for what's called "crisis intervention team training" say only about 15 percent of the city's police force has completed the 40-hour course.

Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti speaks with an official from the National Alliance on Mental Illness about the situation.

Guest

  • Alexa James, executive director of the Chicago office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The organization tweets @NAMIChicago.

This segment aired on December 29, 2015.

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