WTH is going on here? People are losing it....
There is no revenue dragging mentally ill and homeless off to jail.
And it doesn't solve the problem. Jail is no place for those people. Really solving the problem would take a different approach involving mental health treatment, drug treatment, appropriate housing and useful work tailored to their abilities, and I don't know what else. (And yes, some of them probably need to be locked up in a humane environment.) All of that costs money, and that money won't be available unless it becomes a big enough problem that the citizens raise their voices for a solution. Perhaps even more important, all of that is not of interest to most cops. There needs to be a different kind of police force to deal with mental health cases, staffed by people who are trained and interested in doing that.
So how does it happen? If it becomes a big enough problem in one area, the local politicians will decide to spend the money on a program that really works. If it's successful, maybe it will spread to other areas. That's the beauty of decentralized government. There are always problems, but they will get solved in the long run. Then new problems pop up...rinse and repeat.
So yes, write to the paper. That's how the system is supposed to work.
