BY DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — In a matter of 16 days, two different families and two different police departments are reeling from the aftermath of an emergency call for help that went tragically wrong.

On Feb. 12, Pawtucket Police officers shot and killed 30-year-old Jason M. Swift after responding to his Lupine Street home for a report of an emotionally disturbed individual with a knife.
Swift’s mother, Betty, had reportedly summoned police for help with Swift, who is acknowledged to have been acting erratically. He had reportedly been brandishing a samurai-style sword and threatened police outside the building.
After going inside his apartment, where he had reportedly removed his clothing and engaged in a violent struggle with police who were trying to subdue him, he was shot twice in the chest, according to reports.
On Wednesday evening in neighboring East Providence, city police were called by a family member for help with a domestic disturbance involving a man identified as 40-year-old Leonel Farias, who had reportedly been diagnosed as schizophrenic.
According to police, Farias had waved a knife at the officers who arrived at his James Street home and verbally threatened them.
He was pepper sprayed and struck by police in an effort to subdue him, but after what was described as “a violent struggle,” with police officers trying to handcuff him, Farias died. An investigation into his death is under way.
Betty Swift told the news media that she had wanted the police to help transport her son to Butler Hospital in Providence, and instead, he wound up dead.
Also speaking to the news media, relatives of Farias criticized the alleged beating he received from the officers, accusing them of using “excessive force.”
The state attorney general’s office is currently looking into both incidents, as part of required protocol.
In the days immediately following the Swift incident, anti-police sentiments flared in the greater Pawtucket area.
A flurry of letters and Tele-Times comments were harshly critical of law enforcement. Many callers questioned why the police couldn’t have fired a disabling shot or used taser guns.  In more recent days, letters and comments surfaced in defense of the police and their actions.
When asked if he is concerned about this being the third fatal police shooting in a seven month period, Pawtucket Mayor James Doyle said that such incidents are not uncommon for an urban core city. “We’re in a cityscape, not the suburbs,” Doyle said. “There is more occasion to have things like this happen.”
Doyle defended the police department and the leadership of Chief George L. Kelley III, adding that the police officers involved in the two separate shooting incidents last July had been cleared by state grand juries. “Everything is subject to review, but I’m proud to say that are actions have so far been upheld,” Doyle said.
The mayor, who is also Pawtucket’s public safety officer, said the officers receive continual training sessions that teach them how to deal with a variety of perilous scenarios.
Speaking generally, he noted that officers are taught not to take their weapon out unless they are concerned for their safety, and not to fire unless they feel their life is jeopardized.
Doyle said that despite recent events, he wants to assure citizens that when they pick up their phone and call for the police, “they should feel secure in knowing that the police officer is there to serve them.
“By and large, they do a good job,” Doyle said. “But we’re not perfect, none of us is perfect.”
Police Chief George L. Kelley III said “no one feels worse than we do” after incidents like the Swift shooting. He added, however, that the public doesn’t realize how roughly comparable cases — involving an emotionally disturbed or mentally unstable person — the department has to deal with during the course of a  given week.
Regarding training, Kelley said there had been a session in October on use of force, and in December, officers had spent time on a firearms training simulator that takes them through various “shoot/don’t shoot” scenarios. Currently, he added, officers are taking part in a workshop on “less than lethal” response at the Wyatt Detention Center.
Kelley and Major Arthur J. Martins pointed to a hefty handbook outlining the various protocols for dealing with a mentally unstable person as well as “use of force.” They referred to the nine-level “force continuum” officers follow when trying to get control of a situation, ranging from verbal commands to the introduction of things like a baton, cap stun spray, or other deterrents.
“As the force level rises, our response to that rises,” noted Martins. He added that when a weapon is introduced, the scenario shifts to the self preservation of the officer. At that point, it turns into “shoot to stop the threat,” he said.
 Kelley pointed out that ideally, there are moderate steps for defusing difficult situations, but each case is always different. “The events that day unfolded quickly,”Kelley said. “The police officers had to react.”
Kelley added that the Pawtucket Police Department does not have taser guns, although the topic has been up for discussion. He said there have been some problems reported by other police departments where tasers are employed.
Chief Anthony Silva, director of the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy, confirmed that in Rhode island, as well as in police academies throughout the U.S., the training for an officer who feels his life is threatened is “shoot to stop” and aim for “center body mass.” He said history and experience has shown that when police officers have attempted to shoot at an arm or leg to disable an armed suspect, in most cases, the police officers ended up succumbing. “You need to have the police officer survive the incident,” Silva said.
“It’s a difficult job. Police officers have to make decisions in a nanosecond,” Silva stated. He added that, even with the training and guidelines, “You can’t possibly cover all of the possible scenarios a police officer will be confronted with.”
Louis A. Cerbo, clinical director of the state department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, called the two recent events in Pawtucket and East Providence “tragic ... for both the families and the police officers involved.” He said MHRH has resources available for both parties, from counseling for the families of the victims to “critical incident debriefing” for the police officers.
When asked if MHRH would be lobbying for more police training in light of the most recent incidents, Cerbo said he feels the department already makes technical assistance and other resources available on request to local and state police departments. The Gateway Health Center, East Bay Mental Health Center and the Northern Rhode Island Health Center are just some of the local facilities providing training or counseling options, he said.
Cerbo added that the MHRH has also been involved in many of the policies and guidelines that have been developed for use in police training.
Expressing a different view on the recent tragic events was H. Reed Cosper, the state’s mental health advocate. Cosper, whose job it is to enforce the state’s mental health laws, said the state’s cost-cutting measures in the last 20 years have made it more difficult for police to adequately deal with mentally unstable people.
Cosper said that up until the late 1980s, police could bring mentally unstable people to the then-Institute of Mental Health for emergency evaluations and treatment. Later, that option was removed and police were instructed to bring such individuals to local hospital emergency rooms, where, Cosper says, they are typically released a short time later.
“My anger is not with the police, but with the mental health department,” Cosper said. He added that there are over four times more mentally ill people in prison in Rhode Island than the 100 or so at the Eleanor Slater Hospital (the new state IMH). “People should be appalled,” he said.