I just wanted to respond to your article regarding Laurie Cyr-Martell (Oct. 27).

It’s been long overdue that police officers have someone to go to who understands mental illness.

I am bipolar and had an incident with some police officers. They had no idea that I was in a full-blown panic attack and because of their lack of knowledge, they thought I was nuts and proceeded to treat me that way. It was an awful situation, and I do understand that it was not their fault. They have a job to do and have to be cautious in order to protect themselves.

But because of the experience, now, when I see an officer, I start to panic and become so nervous that it’s terrible. I shouldn’t be afraid of the police and am working on getting past it. I might need their assistance sometime, yet I have been more scared of them than the situation I was in.

I hope that these handbooks will help the police to better understand mentally ill people and proceed with caution, as they would in any situation, and to listen when someone tells them that they are mentally ill and actually have the medication in their possession to prove that, and be a little more sympathetic with the treatment of these people. Poor treatment can cause damaging effects that are irreversible.

I think it’s great that Laurie Cyr-Martell is helping our officers have more knowledge about mental illness.

Debbie Lachance, Lewiston

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