SANDY, Utah — A family is calling for more training after an officer-involved shooting in Sandy killed a man family members say they called police to help. Family says 33-year-old Dylan Murphy was struggling with mental health issues when he was shot and killed Sunday.
While an outside investigation into Murphy's death is underway, Sandy Police say their officers are certified in the state-mandated 16 hours of Critical Incident Training, or C.I.T., that helps them better respond to incidents involving mental health crises.
Retired Deputy Police Chief Chris Bertram said it’s a good start, but believes more education needs to be done across the board.
“What resources do we have out there when they are in this much of a mental crisis and they may be a danger to themselves and be a danger to other people?” he asked.
Bertram says when he was on the force, if someone resisted, he would see that as a criminal act, “We didn’t look at this as a mental health issue or a drug and alcohol issue. We looked at this as a rational person trying to resist.”
He said more recent training has helped him see that there are other ways to handle situations and possibly deescalate confrontations if an officer can assess what kind of issue someone may be experiencing.
“We need to look at police officers and not just give them that basic training, but then to put them and make sure that this is an education," said Bertram. "This has got to be every year and we’ve got to advance it. We just can’t just do the same old stuff. “
Family members it was not the first encounter between Murphy and Sandy Police, but they say what happened after he called for help was their worst nightmare.
“You think you’re going to call 911 like I did, and you think it’s going to help the family or help him," said Casey Murphy, Dylan's brother, "but it turns out instead it’s getting murdered.”
In a statement, the Sandy Police Department said after responding early Sunday morning to the call about a possibly suicidal person who may be a threat to himself or someone else, “Our officer located the individual walking and at some point the individual walking and at some point, the individual presented a threat that resulted in our officer discharging his firearm.”
“I cannot tell you whether or not he was armed. That again goes back to our officer involved critical incident protocol team who’s doing that investigation,” said Sgt. Greg Moffitt on Sunday.
Bertram says this weekend’s incident was complex and additional training may not have prevented that from happening, but he does believe it will give officers the tools they need when responding to more incidents involving more volatile behavior involving mental health crises and alcohol and drug issues.
“I can teach somebody how to shoot or how to put handcuffs on somebody. That’s training," he said. "I’m talking about actually getting this in the culture of law-enforcement.
"Mental health and drug abuse is something we’re going to have to deal with. How is it we can make our officers better educated so that when they’re interacting with these people they can get the best possible outcomes.”
