SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- One in four police calls involves a mentally ill or impaired person, training experts say. But mental health advocates argue that Sacramento's law officers aren't getting proper training.

Michael Riley, a suicidal man armed only with a pencil, was shot and killed two years ago by a sheriff's deputy.

"I told 911 -- both times I told 911 -- he did not have a weapon," mother Lyn Taverna said. "I tried to do the right thing, and it killed my son."

Davis Police Sgt. Paul Doroshov said officers are constantly exposed to people with behavioral issues or mental illness.

But of the 1,000 hours of police academy training, only eight hours are allotted to covering every mental health issue.

A crisis intervention trainer, Michael Summers, said more extensive training at other California police departments has resulted in "a drop of officer injuries, consumer mental health injuries and use of force from officers."

But Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said it all comes down to money.

"You can clearly make the argument that money spent in that area would be very wisely spent, and it would reduce the need to spend money in other areas. Nonetheless, we don't have the resources to do that," he said.

The Sacramento Police Department looked into creating crisis intervention teams several years ago, but logistically and financially, it wasn't possible.

Taverna, though, hopes her son's story will change that and make mental health training a higher priority.