Veterans with untreated PTSD are more likely to wind up in the criminal justice system. JOHN GALVAN: You get rage you can’t understand and you can’t control it. When I got arrested I was telling the police, “You need to get me away from this situation. There’s a high potential that I’m gonna do something that’s gonna be really bad.” Better to get arrested and get some psych help than be free. But getting veterans like John Galvan the help they need shouldn’t come only after a jail sentence. So a pilot program is helping train law enforcement officers to identify distressed veterans and help them diffuse a situation before it escalates to crisis and arrest. In the second part of KALW News’ series on returning veterans, reporter Lilah Crews-Pless takes us to a Combat to Community training near Sacramento.

Veterans with untreated PTSD are more likely to wind up in the criminal justice system. JOHN GALVAN: You get rage you can’t understand and you can’t control it. When I got arrested I was telling the police, “You need to get me away from this situation. There’s a high potential that I’m gonna do something that’s gonna be really bad.” Better to get arrested and get some psych help than be free. But getting veterans like John Galvan the help they need shouldn’t come only after a jail sentence. So a pilot program is helping train law enforcement officers to identify distressed veterans and help them diffuse a situation before it escalates to crisis and arrest. In the second part of KALW News’ series on returning veterans, reporter Lilah Crews-Pless takes us to a Combat to Community training near Sacramento.