The President of the Police Union (SPA), Rodney Solognier, has raised concerns about the limitations of police resources in addressing mental health crises, following a tragic incident in Pos Abao.
Solognier emphasized that the police force is deeply affected by the situation and that while they always strive to help the community, there are limits to their capacity. “This is something that should not have happened. We believe there may have been other reasons, but we need to address that we have mental health professionals in the government apparatus who should have been involved first before the police came in,” Solognier stated.
He pointed out that Crisis Team, HUNTO, and Respaldo should logically have been the first responders in such cases. He acknowledged that Respaldo might have made a misstep in handling the patient at the beginning. “Unfortunately, the situation escalated, and we were unable to assist further,” he added.
Solognier also criticized the previous and current governments for not activating the relevant mental health services sooner. He argued that police officers should not be tasked with handling people in mental distress, as it is not their primary responsibility. “Our job is to handle criminal activity and justice matters, not mental health crises. These individuals need to be addressed differently to avoid incidents like the one in Pos Abao,” Solognier said.
He called on the government to do more to activate the appropriate departments, such as Crisis Team, HUNTO, and Respaldo, to respond effectively to such cases. “The police cannot continue to handle mentally ill individuals. We’ve seen this before with a colleague of ours. In this case, it turned into a problem,” Solognier emphasized.
As the leader of SPA, Solognier expressed that he had raised these concerns multiple times before. He predicted that such incidents would continue if the necessary mental health services are not activated sooner. “This is a situation that should have been addressed differently,” he concluded.
