Mother Jones wants to know “What the Hell Happened to the Chicago Police’s ‘Crisis Intervention’ Training?” It’s not a bad question.

What exactly is crisis intervention training, and why does it matter? “Crisis intervention is a type of police training that prepares officers for encounters with people who may be suffering from mental illnesses. A group of law enforcement officials, mental health experts, and community advocates started the first of these programs in Tennessee in 1988, after a Memphis police officer shot and killed a man with a history of mental illness. Such training can help reduce unnecessary arrests and use of force, research shows. Approximately 7 percent of all police encounters with the public have involved people with mental illnesses, according to one 1999 study. And the Washington Post's ongoing count of fatal police shootings in America suggests that number is on the rise. About a quarter of those killed by the police in 2015 were experiencing a mental illness or an emotional crisis, the Post estimates. Today, there are an estimated 2,700 crisis intervention programs across the country.”

Mother Jones wants to know specifically because of what happened to Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones the day after Christmas. As Vann Newkirk II writes: