Trevor Bickford, a 20-year-old man, carried out a premeditated attack on three NYPD officers with a machete-style knife on New Year’s Eve of 2022. This act of violence occurred near Times Square during one of the city’s most iconic celebrations and, “Trevor told Mental Health Professionals he was going to do it!”
They say Trevor was inspired by radical ideologies, traveling from Maine with the intent to “wage jihad” against officers in uniform. Armed with a machete, he struck the officers, aiming for their heads and leaving them with severe injuries.
The quick response of the NYPD officers on the scene, particularly Officer Mickel Hanna, who shot Bickford in the shoulder, brought an end to the rampage. The officers’ bravery undoubtedly saved countless lives, preventing what could have been a far more tragic outcome.
Bickford was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his actions. In court, he expressed remorse, indicating that mental illness played a role in the decision making behind what he had done to the officers.
Trevor Bickford was apparently under psychiatric treatment for schizoaffective disorder when he carried out his attack. Some sources say he informed mental health professionals about his plan to harm others and his intention to commit a jihadist attack 20 days before the New Year’s Eve incident.
The story goes that Judge P. Kevin Castel, during the sentencing, expressed concern over the missed signs and the potential for prevention. He noted that if the medical professionals and authorities had responded differently to the warnings, including those from Trevor Bickford’s mother and his own admissions to mental health professionals, the attack might not have occurred.
But what Judge P. Kevin Castel or anyone else in our federal government is going to do about the Mental Health profession’s role in any of this? Probably nothing, which doesn’t surprise me.
After all, if the Federal government took the initiative to step up efforts to enforce any kind of cleanup of the Mental Health profession now, “They’d look pretty damn stupid for pumping tuns of money into a system that is akin to a jail being run by inmates, rather than anything useful as a whole.” So, Trevor Bickford gets to deal with a prison sentence while those who failed in their so-called profession get to walk free. In my mind, it’s politics at its finest and, “It’s disgusting!”
But my own outrage about it isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference, is it. How I feel only matters to people of authority in that profession when there’s a buck in it for them and their friends. It doesn’t matter that they’ve grossly violated my trust, or a few ethics along the way. It will be interesting to see down the line how things go for the Mental Health Profession when people finally wake up and realize that it’s the Mental Health Industry driving the Mental Health Crisis here in the United States, “All for the almighty dollar.”
Of course, much of this is written based on my own interaction with members of the so-called profession over this past year and is my own personal view of the matter, tempered with my life’s experiences and observations. In the scheme of things, it counts for nothing and isn’t going to change a damn thing anyway. So, I’m now off to get my act together in preparation for surviving another day.
At this point, getting any real help with my depression from the Mental Health Profession is hopeless for me. But that fact doesn’t have to ruin another day for me, “Does it?”