Mental Health Impacts of Police Violence and Reassessing Policing as a Community Safety Strategy

It is well documented that policing, as a vehicle for state violence, exacts cascading psychological effects on our most vulnerable people. Policing, in the context of the United States, has its roots in anti-Black oppression and the violent ways police interact with communities adhere to this tradition. Rather than reinvesting in policing which has repeatedly demonstrated its inefficacy, radically leaning into models of community care and mental health support with demonstrated efficacy and community buy-in are essential. In our role as mental health professionals, a field that has historically upheld and optimized the very state surveillance and violence that killed Najee, we feel it necessary to provide additional support to the demands outlined by the Paterson Healing Collective.