All Points: Police overload

Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown has said police are feeling the strain of their work.

“We’re asking cops to do too much in this country,” Brown said. “Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. … Let’s have the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops. … Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”

How do we resolve this? How do we avoid police being called in on a mental health emergency, a crisis at school, a loose dog that someone sees as a threat or other problems?

Send no more than 150 words with your name, home address and telephone number to letters@star-telegram.com. Deadline is Wednesday.

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 2:27 PM with the headline "All Points: Police overload."