Orlando Division: Mental Health

How big a factor is mental heath in the Safety and Security profession? I believe that this is a significant factor in the number and nature of the anti social behavior we see and read about daily. Funding for the prevention and care of people who may be affected by poor mental health is no longer available at the levels that are necessary to prevent a significant number of criminal acts. Over the past number of years civil leaders have found that ignoring the issue is not cost neutral. In fact ignoring the problem has become very expensive for local government as the mentally ill are being treated, albeit inadequately in our local emergency rooms and in our jails. This cost is NOT insignificant. Local governments are finding that is is more cost effective to provide housing to the homeless rather than letting the homeless use high priced emergency rooms and prisons for their treatment. Doing nothing is NOT neutral.