Task force welcome step
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share thisEstablishment of a broad-based task force to examine how police and other agencies can best deal with mentally ill people raises some questions while endeavoring to answer others.
The task force is being formed largely in response to the May 28 shooting death, by Scranton police, of 52-year-old Brenda Williams in her North Scranton apartment. Three officers shot Ms. Williams, who had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, as she approached them while wielding a knife.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola found the shooting to be justified, while declining to release the full investigative report on the incident and criticizing the local mental health system.
Police officials, meanwhile, emphasized that the new task force will not examine the Williams shooting itself while the department conducts its own internal investigation.
The task force is a good idea. Ideally, its work will result in effective early interventions well short of the sort of confrontation that ended Ms. Williams' life.
There is no reason, however, that the Williams shooting also cannot be examined in detail by the task force so that the public can have as much information as possible on the use of force by its police force.
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