If it passes then you can say good-bye to what’s left of Seattles police force. Then people can cry about there not being a policeman around when they are needed because no cop worth his mettle is going to risk his/her life for a mentally ill person with a knife or a gun only to be ostracized by the public later for them doing their duty and following the real first rule of law enforcement: “make it home for dinner”. It’s the reality of wearing any uniform, particularly if you are a policeman these days. If there is a problem with mental health violence then put it square where it needs to be - on the wonderful Obamacare healthcare system - not the cops

@2 The police will just stop doing their jobs, recruitment will die off, hiring standards will plunge due to lack of interest in these public service positions and people like @3 will finally be able to attain that position of power theyve always coveted.

Officer Sausage has a nice ring to it, no?

All of this pie in the sky bullshit is fun to talk about but, there will always be a police force and they are always going to be seen as the opposition by some.

This may be well intentioned, but instead of some how figuring out how to hold cops accountable for their actions in these tragic situations, how about we invest this effort in figuring out how to keep putting cops into these situations where the issues are mental health, drug abuse, or both? The cops I know are good people trying to do a job. They didn't get into this profession so they could kill people. Too often they are put in situations where they have to be a mental health professional, marriage counselor, drug rehab specialist and oh yes, protect and serve us all on the same shift. We ask too much of them.

http://komonews.com/news/local/woman-sta…
I imagine that had the passenger shot her assailant we would be making “self-defense” illegal because the poor assaliant was mentally ill. Something major cities will undoubtedly will be seeing as police officers start going into other less stressful lines of work and before cities start considering requests for military assistance to keep the peace.

Where will the convicted rapist who got shot while committing a drug crime ever find justice?!?! And will The Stranger EVER interview Mr Taylor's rape victim to get their take on what happened to him in the end?

what @7 said. also, what @10 said. We put guns in the hands of cops and then ask them to enforce the laws on a heavily armed population. Bad shootings will happen in this situation. but putting the (obviously bereaved and upset) brother of one of the clearest examples of proper use of force by the police doesn't help that side at all.

I'll be voting for this!

@7 Why not both?

It sounds like additional de-escalation training would be very helpful for the cops you know who "didn't get into this profession so they could kill people" but "are put in situations where they have to be a mental health professional, marriage counselor, drug rehab specialist."

Gentle reminder Che Taylor was a convicted rapist and heroin dealer. Anybody with any street experience knows that he likely committed murder(s) at some point in his criminal career.

Only Seattle Liberals lose sleep over a dead rapist while hashtagging #metoo all over Twitter. Hilarious.