According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in 17 Americans suffers from a serious mental illness. That's about one person in an average high school class. These mentally ill people live different lives and, in some situations, cannot fully understand what is happening around them. These people need a little more time and patience than the average person would need in a given situation. For this reason, they must be handled differently from police officers when they come into contract. This is not happening and it is causing chaos. In “Police Face Growing Numbers of Mentally Ill Suspects,” an article that appeared in the New York Times on April 1, 2014, writers Fernanda Santos and Erica Goode draw attention to the treatment of mentally ill suspects when they are confronted by officers of police. The article begins with James Boyd's emotional story to capture the public's attention and create disgust for the police, a sentiment reinforced throughout the article. The authors then have several professionals testify that in recent years the number of incidents between mentally ill people and police officers has increased dramatically. Santos and Goode describe the process of many police departments and compare them to that of Albuquerque, showing that their procedures when dealing with mentally ill suspects are not used or there are no guidelines to follow. This article describes the ignorance that some people have in handling situations with mentally ill people and how this affects the lives of the mentally ill and could potentially affect the life of the reader. Structural, material and character coherence is evident in the article to effectively shed light on how police officers need to review… middle of paper… I am willing to accept the story as true. I find this article to be truthful because it includes the other side and even tries to take all the blame away from them. The purpose of this article is not to bash police officers; is to raise awareness for mentally ill people in America. There needs to be more acceptable means of obtaining mental health services, especially for people who cannot afford to receive treatment, or restructured procedures for police officers to follow so they understand how to handle these situations. Understanding that this is the purpose of the article, I believe Santos and Goode wrote a credible and coherent news article that created awareness for the public. Works CitedGoode, E., & Santos, F. (2014, April 1). Police face growing numbers of mentally ill suspects. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/