Tulsa’s Sheriff says last week’s officer involved deadly shooting shows why more funding and resources are needed to deal with the mentally ill. The investigation into the shooting death is continuing, but Sheriff Vic Regalado says it points out the difficulties in dealing with those suffering from mental illness. He says the workload for deputies in the mental health unit has doubled in the past few years, but resources and funding from state and federal government has been severely cut, ‘leaving us behind the 8-ball’.
Critics say the attempt to serve a court order for a mental evaluation that led to the shooting could have been handled differently. Two deputies from the Sheriff’s mental health unit were among officers who fired on Joshua Barre’ while attempting to serve the court order.