Letters to the Editor: Sending armed cops out as ‘homeless liaison officers’ is an outrage

To the editor: Reading the article about the Orange County sheriff’s deputies who shot a homeless man in San Clemente, I wondered why two uniformed, armed men would be sent out as homeless liaison officers. I can’t imagine anyone being more threatening to an unhoused person in a mental health crisis.

Based on the details in your story, I believe those law enforcement officers obviously had Kurt Reinhold on their radar as an undesirable element needing to be evicted from San Clemente.

I am a retired Los Angeles County Unified School District special education teacher who was trained to serve students with mental difficulties and keep everyone safe. The first item on our checklist was do not do anything to set the individual off.

To me, it appears that the deputies even went out of their way to zero in on and agitate Reinhold. The officers’ attempt to detain Reinhold because he might have jaywalked, resulting in a confrontation in which the homeless man was killed, is an absolute outrage.

Lisa Edmondson, Los Angeles