To the editor:

I’m writing in response to Patti Agustin’s letter titled, "A Full-Time School Resource Officer Is Not Enough." In it she said: “I expect severely mentally ill persons to be removed from normal society. It is what is right for them, and their community.” The letter then goes on to say that mental institutions should be reopened. 

I think Patti should know that according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness the overwhelming majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent, just like the overwhelming majority of all people are not violent. Only four percent of the violence—not just gun violence, but any kind—in the United States is attributable to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depression (the three most-cited mental illnesses in conjunction with violence). In other words, 96 percent of the violence in America has nothing to do with mental illness.

The concept of blaming and isolating one group for problems is unfortunately embedded in our world and country’s history, and never with success. 

I think we should instead focus on the one area where we all agree: everyone wants our children to be safe.

Thank you,

Heather McNamara

Barrington