By the end of 2003, Richard�s delusions had become more severe. Believing God wanted him to protect an acquaintance from her husband, he broke into the woman�s apartment and rearranged the furniture to confuse her husband. Meticulously organizing all of the woman�s undergarments on the bedroom floor, he created a shrine to her, which included pictures, flowers and a knife. Richard was found by police cuddling one of the woman�s young children in the hallway. He was taken into custody and booked for burglary. He believed he had done nothing wrong as he had been sent by God. Fortunately, the responding officer was a trained member of the Crisis Intervention Team. The officer clearly identified Richard�s delusions and requested mental health follow-up. The Crisis Intervention Team met with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and Salt Lake City Mental Health Court staff to have the case adjudicated through Mental Health Court.

During the next several years, Richard took his medication regularly, and entered college. In 2005, he was married and now lives in a small town with his wife and son. He works full time for a landscape company and maintains a loving relationship with his parents and family members. Richard now publicly speaks about his experience in an attempt to assist others.

Focusing on constructive problem-solving, rather than being solely concerned with enforcement and punishment, we established Crisis Intervention Teams, to ensure mentally ill people receive appropriate care and attention. Our view is that if the conduct is a result of a mental health problem, we should be focused primarily on resolving the mental health problem, not on punishment and retribution. Because of the training and dedication of police officers to

recognize mental health disorders and to respond with an understanding of why some people may be acting in a manner that could, under other circumstances, elicit a violent response from police, lives have likely been saved, and treatment, rather than retribution, has helped bring about dramatic, positive changes in people�s lives. This approach represents progress for everyone involved.

The Police Department has integrated officers more closely with Community Action Teams, which involve residents in healing the damage criminal activity inflicts on offenders, victims, and the community through strong collaboration with the Police Department, all levels of City government, and outside agencies such as the Salt Lake Valley Health Department and Valley Mental Health. Despite inexplicable drastic cuts in federal funding during the past few years, which is symptomatic of the regressive federal policies toward cities generally, our Police Department has made great progress in proactive, constructive community-oriented policing. Our police officers know that deterrence and community-building can be their most important work.

A few years ago, we formed, for the first time in the City�s history, a Police Civilian Review Board to examine individual complaints about police officers� conduct. Under the Review Board system, greater fairness and accountability are provided for citizens and officers alike. Thanks to the dogged efforts of Ty McCartney and the several dedicated volunteers who