Nearly half of all police shootings in Maine since 2000 have involved people who are mentally ill - 42 percent to be precise - while more than half of those killed also suffer from some kind of mental impairment. That's one of the findings of a series of four investigative reports published this week in the Portland Press Herald. The series, titled "Deadly Force," has taken a team of four reporters the better part of a year to produce. One of the investigation's lead reporters, Tux Turkel, says the problem is, at the root, as much a healthcare issue as it is a law enforcement one. Tom Porter has the story.

Tux Turkel is a reporter for the Portland Press Herald. To read the entire series, "Deadly Force: Police and the Mentally Ill," click here.

 Graphic courtesy of Maine Today Media.