On Sept. 12, Buffalo police shot Willie Henley, a troubled man that relatives say had a history of mental illness. He was charged with assault after swinging a baseball bat at police. Two weeks earlier, the March 2020 death of Daniel Prude in Rochester came to light with the release of police body camera footage that showed him as a troubled, naked man gasping to breathe in a spit helmet. And suddenly, the already boiling issue of race and policing turned to look at how police interact with people with mental illness.
Discover new viewpoints regarding this issue in our panel discussion “Mental Health and Policing: Do Crisis Intervention Teams Work?.”
WATCH IT BELOW or on the Buffalo Toronto Public Media YouTube Page
WBFO News Director Dave Debo served as moderator of a panel that included:
- Captain Amber Beyer, health services coordinator of the Buffalo Police Department.
- DeJon Hall, a past member of Free The People, the umbrella group of several activists working with the Mayor’s office on police reform
- Erin M. Moss, a mental health counselor in private practice and past participant in WBFO Facebook programs on race and mental illness
- Jessica Steuwe, the CIT Training coordinator for Crisis Services Inc.
The event was part of the WBFO Mental Health Initiativewith support from the Patrick P. Lee Foundation
