From the ACLU, this is at Liberty. I'm Molly Kaplan, your host.

Over the last months, we've explored different conversations on the subject of policing,

abolition, violence and accountability, protest and activism.

Today, we're digging into a topic that has gained more attention in the wake of Daniel Prude's

death in March at the hands of the Rochester Police Department. We will dig into the

startling connection between mental health 911 calls and police brutality. Studies show that nearly 50% of police victims are living with a disability,

predominantly a mental health disability.

In many ways, 911 has become the only option for people looking for mental health crisis intervention,

and police often arrive at the scene, armed with deadly weapons, and a complete lack of mental health crisis intervention, and police often arrive at the scene, armed with deadly weapons,

and a complete lack of mental health training. The results are devastating, but there is hope.

There are new alternatives to policing that can provide real care if we invest in them.

Joining us on this episode to break down the issue is Greg Block, a professor of law at Georgetown

University and a mental health care policy expert. Greg, welcome to the podcast.

Thanks so much, Molly. It's great to be with you on this critically important topic.

You know, I want to start first by saying for years and then more acutely this summer of all the uprisings

over the deaths of Brianna Taylor, George Floyd, and others, there has been this growing

consensus that police are not the solution in a mental health crisis, that punishment and force

our prescription for tragedy in addressing what is essentially a health issue. But even before getting into that, I wanted to talk about what happens, even before getting

into what happens when the police are called, I want to take a step back and set up sort of

the broader context of how mental health is treated in the U.S. and how we got there.

And I think one of the most recent examples that says so much about the system is the case of Daniel Prude.

Yes.

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