Police ‘deeply saddened’ by death

“At the moment I am unable to say for certain whether or not police officers receive the necessary training to handle persons who are mentally ill, but I will say that a formal investigation has been launched into this matter,” Kerr told reporters.

For this year, three mentally ill people have been shot and killed by police.

The death of one of them, Raymond Joseph, led to San Juan/Barataria MP Dr Fuad Khan asking National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, during a sitting of the House, if police are trained to engage with mentally ill citizens.

Dillon replied that officers are exposed to training related to handling mentally ill people in emergency situations. However, less than a month late, Toco/Sangre Grande MP Glenda Jennings-Smith (herself a retired police officer) revealed that police are not adequately trained to handle mentally ill people.

An official at the National Centre for Persons With Disabilities denounced the killings and said there were testament that the police are not trained to engage with mentally ill people.

The official said the Centre is will to interact with police in the form of sensitisation classes to better equip officers to deal with people suffering from mental disorders.

Paul was shot dead Monday night after the police were called out to investigate a report that a man was throwing stones at cars in Ste Madeleine.