It was not the start to the new year anyone wanted: a 911 call from someone saying a friend was armed and suicidal and prowling the UMD campus.
But within half an hour, the man (who did not have a weapon) was apprehended, taken to a local hospital and then to the St. Louis County Jail, where he was booked on trespassing charges.
The good news, of course, is that no one was hurt, the emergency notification systems and the cooperative arrangements between UMD Police and other local law enforcement worked just like they should and the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) that campus police receive again proved its worth.
But what do we do with people who aren't sick enough to be locked up, but may not always be able to act in their own best interests? And is jail the right place for them? We sat down to ask some questions of Lt. Tim LeGarde of the UMD Police Department.
