Esther: I bet that you could establish a 501c3 non-profit to help these people. You could hold charity runs and other such fundraisers to get the funding to assist. You could get volunteers to help out. Its all within your grasp if you try.

It is sad to realize in any society... some end up on the bottom. Many made mistakes that were to hard to overcome. Not all you see on the street are homeless. It would be nice to live in a utopian society..... but it will never happen.

Esther: It is so nice to see that you can show such disrespect to the men and women of our local law enforcement community who do a thankless job day in and day out. Like Y-S said why don't you do something about it... PUT up or SHUT up. You are a cruel person and in need of help.

Although I have to agree that mental health service is a major problem in California I do not agree with the statement about the handling by LE. I have a feeling that the letter writer has a bone to pick or a lawsuit in progress.

Where exactly were you that you witnessed the constant mistreatment by Deputies?

I am going to have to side with Esther on this one sorry folks. It is not disrepectful to call it like you see it. Mental health is a major problem that does not recieve enough funding or attention from our local & state gevernments. It is the first thing to be cut & the last thing to recieve funds.

The local law enforcement does need to have some form of training in place to educate the officers on potentially mentally ill individuals. We would not have the term "mental illness" if it did not exsist. I think law enforcement just like any other job gets burn out and after a while it all starts to become the same. They end up treating people that are in need of help just like everybody else but they are not. They lack the mental capability to fully understand the everyday world you & I live in. The other problem is where do these people that need help go if & when picked up by law enforcement? Does law enforcement have a place to take them or is it easier just to throw them in with everybody else until they are released only to have the cycle repeat itself?

Isn't mental illness and suicide a choice? Being incoherent and or under the influence of mind altering drugs or alcohol is also a personal choice and that choice then becomes and turns into an addiction. Those that can not handle life and who are called mentally ill....are not able to understand the world we have created around them and they can not grasp reality or they do grasp reality.. and do not like what they see we have created...that does not make someone sick...it makes them different than the normal behavior patterns we are accustomed to.

This is just typical of those that react without knowing the facts. If you read the articles and posts by those that were friends with the deceased, you would know that she did get help. She had a family and they got her help; it simply didn’t work. So, now our law enforcement is responsible for providing mental health care after they heroically talked her down from the bridge the first time? She wasn’t incarcerated. It was up to her family to get help for her. Geeze!

When deputies talk a person off the bridge or any time they threaten their life the deputies turn them over for a medical/mental evaluation by doctors and those involved in the mental health practice. I believe by former articles this was done. At that point law enforcement had no further contact with the woman. The police are not doctors they did not have the authority to realese this woman. Why has it become so easy to blame the police for social issues. We call the police for every issue in the world and expect them to solve them all. the police did their job here also, but then that is to assume they had a responsibility in the first place. since when does a mental health issue when the subject is wishing to commit suicide really become a law enforcement issue over a medical issue. I dont see any doctors rushing to the scene. As far as the letter writers claim, law enformcement is called to intoxicated subjects everyday. they are so intoxicated that they can not care for themselves. As far as the mental health help that you claim these people need you should learn that the mental health help cant be forced on the subjects, they have to want it. Its also hard to rationalize with a subject who had downed a fifth of whiskey and think they are superman and want to fight with the deputy who is there because they are trying to help. No mental facility will take a drunk/combative person so that leaves the jail as the only viable option. Get real.

There were stories about this particular woman, people who knew her commented about her life, her husband, kids, family, etc. She was given help, apparently had supportive family and yet she still took her own life. So whoever wrote this letter did not even take the time to learn about this particular case and then tries to make a case about how badly metally ill people are treated? Huh?

Perhaps the Esther has some issues ...and is trying to use this tragedy as leverage for whatever reason...if so Esther please seek help, it is out there...

Could there be some truth to Esther's letter that we don't care to face?

It is a fact that mental health services in this county have been cut to the bone. The Auburn office is set to close soon and from what I've heard ,permanently.

What is the protocol beyond 51/50? Does law enforcement have anywhere to take the mentally ill? Are they by default having to place sick people in jail?

I understand that mental illness and substance abuse often go hand in hand. Many try to self-medicate away their "reality". No one wants to deal with a combative individual but isn't that part of "danger to oneself or others"?

Hmmmmm sounds like youve been in there a few times, hmmm Citrus Heights..... enough said