Dear Editor,
In response to the article on Sept. 13, page 4A, concerning the Columbia Police Department handling the mentally ill: The direction Chief Michael Kelly is going on handling those people could very well bring a question of liability to the city.
It takes more than 40 hours to be mentally qualified to evaluate a person’s mental condition, certified or not. It takes a psychiatrist or psychologist 10 years of college to make such an evaluation.
It takes a person like Chancery Clerk Cass Barnes, who was born and raised in the city of Columbia and knows most of the people and is capable of making such a decision, to allow someone to sign an affidavit on someone. You can destroy an innocent person’s life with one stroke of a pen when the judge signs a court order.
And 40 hours of training cannot possibly be enough training to cover for 10 years of college. The police officer could be used unaware in a family conspiracy.
Tony W. McDermit
Columbia
