A 'justified' shooting.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Eugene police were "justified" in fatally shooting 19-year-old Ryan Salisbury a week ago, the Lane County district attorney's office has concluded. That's a far cry from saying that the early morning encounter between Salisbury and the police ended in a satisfactory manner. The shooting can be regarded as justified only in the narrow context of its time and circumstances. Preventing such circumstances from developing in the first place is a responsibility that belongs to more than just the police.

Salisbury, in the midst of what District Attorney Doug Harcleroad described as an "explosive psychiatric break," advanced on police with a kitchen knife after six beanbag rounds had failed to stop him. A policeman then "used deadly physical force reasonably believing that his life and the lives of the other officers were endangered." Based on Harcleroad's account of what happened that morning, his conclusion seems almost preordained.

Next comes a review by the Eugene Police Department's use-of-force board to determine whether the officers involved acted according to policies and practices. The board will also examine whether existing policies are adequate, and whether police officers need further training for such situations.

All this puts the burden of self-examination on law enforcement authorities. Yet the police did not ask to become the community's default providers of mental health services - and what happened at the Salisbury home that morning is that a mental health crisis morphed into a threat to public safety. That occurs all too often. Police Capt. Chuck Tilby says 10 percent of his officers' encounters with people on the street involve people with mental health problems.

Tilby's estimate sounds low. In many such encounters, people pose a danger to themselves or others. The risk of tragic results is too great to be ignored. Salisbury's death, and the risk of others like it, raises bigger questions than whether police respond properly in the seconds during which a mental health crisis reached its climax. Such questions include the adequacy of mental health treatment, the training of police and other professionals, and community attitudes toward issues of mental illness.

Salisbury's parents say they hold no grudge against the police, and have asked that the community heal now. Their wishes are to be respected. Yet such healing requires a sense that the community can feel justified in its response to mental health crises.

Such justification can be found in this case only if it contributes to ensuring there won't be a next one.