“Taking such a man into your home is both dangerous and possibly hazardous. Some, who are merely down on their luck, can be helped but the untrained should never take in anyone with a true mental condition. This man obviously has a mental problem. The Police can keep taking him to Bergen Pines, but he can’t be kept there unless he agrees to treatment. One of the “Defund the Police” suggestions is to keep a specially trained social worker on staff who can be called to go with a police officer to try to defuse this situation. Most officers, however, have been trained to deal with this themselves and, in Ridgewood at least, that would probably be a duplication of services.”
Do you know how many people that are around us every day that have mental conditions.
Oh we do .take a walk around town.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few that have mental conditions in Ridgewood as well as many other places. Some are lucky enough to have a home but that does not protect them from the meanness shown by other people towards them. We have a number of people who wander the streets by no fault of their own. Several of our restaurants do feed them and the ice cream man always stops just for them. Mental help is the hardest to come by. Even health insurance tries to get by with as little as possible for them. These problems are just going to be aggravated as this pandemic goes on and more people become homeless. I spent the night at one of the shelters a few years ago, and you would be shocked at the causes of most being homeless. i.e. you get a parking or other vehicle ticket. You can’t pay it. Soon the state revokes your license. Now you can’t drive. You can’t get to work. You then have no money to pay rent. Now you are homeless. And these are mostly all without any mental problems to go with their homelessness.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few that have mental conditions in Ridgewood as well as many other places. Some are lucky enough to have a home but that does not protect them from the meanness shown by other people towards them. We have a number of people who wander the streets by no fault of their own. Several of our restaurants do feed them and the ice cream man always stops just for them. Mental help is the hardest to come by. Even health insurance tries to get by with as little as possible for them. These problems are just going to be aggravated as this pandemic goes on and more people become homeless. I spent the night at one of the shelters a few years ago, and you would be shocked at the causes of most being homeless. i.e. you get a parking or other vehicle ticket. You can’t pay it. Soon the state revokes your license. Now you can’t drive. You can’t get to work. You then have no money to pay rent. Now you are homeless. And these are mostly all without any mental problems to go with their homelessness.
Hire a full time social worker
For one homeless guy?