Police were called to help Colin Jennings. They killed him instead. Were signs missed.

Chagrin Falls resident Jeff Wenninger retired as a lieutenant after 30-years with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Columbus police officers respond to a man who is reportedly cutting himself with a knife and possibly threatening another person. He allegedly charges at the officers, demanding that they shoot him.

When he charges a second time, the officers fire several rounds, killing him.

The intent of the call was for help – not for 26-year-old Colin Jennings to die.

The American Journal of Psychiatry reports that the phenomenon of law enforcement assisted suicide – when a person deliberately provokes a lethal response from a police officer to end his/her life – attributes to estimates as high as 36% of police shootings.

I retired as a lieutenant after 30 years with the Los Angeles Police Department with expertise in the investigation and adjudication of lethal force incidents – in excess of 700 cases.

I recognize the necessary police response to these incidents, but also to appreciate the evidence which supports that equally, if not more importantly, how the recognition and specialized handling of suicidal individuals can significantly impact the likelihood for more favorable outcomes.

All too often these incidents end tragically

Which is not to say that I believe that police should be pacifists when provoked. There is a time when lethal force is necessary.

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But, all too often these incidents end tragically through the use of unnecessary force, and should be handled differently, because when properly handled, they can be resolved by means other than lethal force, and without undue danger to officers or the public.

The American Journal of Psychiatry states that law enforcement assisted suicide is unique in that stressful, adverse life events or conflicts, such as despondence over a relationship breakup, domestic violence, terminal illness or loss of a job, are present at the time the incident occurs in over 70% of the cases.

The suicidal behavior is often caused by a temporary existential crisis — a sense that life is futile or meaningless — not from psychoses of mental illness.

I have often seen instances where officers were either oblivious to or ignored the unmistakable signs that a person was suicidal, and made no effort to consider the needs of the person in crisis.

Officers, as well as the organizations they serve, avoid accountability in these instances through an accepted mindset – bad things happen to those who make bad choices. Law enforcement must move beyond the delusion of this reasoning and reevaluate their responsibility to those whose behavior suggests a desire to die at the hands of the police.

The signs are obvious: self-inflicted harm, behaving aggressively toward officers with no apparent reason, and an expressed desire to die through statements like “kill me” or “shoot me.”

All of which were present in this instance.

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Officers resort to their traditional training

Officers need to understand what uniformed cops showing up in numbers, with weapons drawn, can do to a person experiencing a mental crisis. Imagine the anxiety it would cause anyone, then multiply it tenfold for a person with suicidal tendencies.

The vast majority of these incidents are handled by officers that have not had the specialized training needed to properly handle these calls. Officers resort to their traditional training that has a hypervigilant focus on violence as a means to resolve these incidents.

Rather than impose the needed training on individual police organizations after an unnecessary death, federal funding should be attached to the swift implementation of training standards that promote a guardian mindset more likely to result in favorable outcomes – and save lives.

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We know police training is deficient. Without the necessary specialized training, there will be more needless deaths at the hands of the police, and more police pain inflicted upon us all.

Chagrin Falls resident Jeff Wenninger retired as a lieutenant after 30-years with the Los Angeles Police Department. He had a background in the investigation and adjudication of lethal force incidents.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Colin Jennings shooting: Were signs of 'suicide by cop' missed?