And then there comes the question of whether the mental health professional should be armed or unarmed.

I'm a RN and I've had my fair share of violent patient encounters, in a hospital setting which is a controlled environment to an extent. People don't realize the community is an uncontrolled environment, and there is a huge safety risk involved with attending mental health calls. I would not feel comfortable depending on a police officer to protect me, as a mental health worker. I would want to my protect myself.

What happens when an unarmed mental health worker gets shot and killed? People will blame the police for not protecting the mental health worker.

What happens when the person in crisis get shot and killed because they were attacking the mental health worker? People will blame the police for not responding appropriately to mental health calls.

What happens when the armed mental health worker shoots and kills the person in crisis because they were attacking them? People will blame the mental health worker for not being trained better enough.

Just my two cents.