Mental Health and Policing

Mental Health and Policing

Mental Health and Policing are two critical aspects of our society that intersect in complex ways. Interactions between police officers and those suffering from mental health issues can be extremely difficult for both parties. For officers, these interactions take far longer than normal calls for service, necessitate specialized training and expertise, and may rely on the accessibility of community mental health resources for a positive ending.
As a result of deinstitutionalization and the inflow of people with serious mental illnesses into the community, police officers have become primary experts who deal with these people when they are in trouble. This study investigates and discusses the challenges highlighted by this phenomenon as they relate to criminal justice and mental health. Collaboration between policing and mental health experts assist both police agencies and the community in which they operate in a variety of ways.

Contemporary Issues

In highly obvious ways, the terrain of American police is rapidly altering. Unaddressed socioeconomic issues including substance misuse, mental disorders, unemployment, and inequality have greatly increased the demands placed on position cops. Meanwhile, sufficient training and rehabilitation programs are lacking, and each highly publicized usage force, police-involved gunshot, or police death results in a wave of enraged reactions.

Arrests and jail alone are no longer successful in reducing recurrence for vulnerable people, according to research. As a consequence, there is a general demand for programs that address recidivism risk factors such as homelessness, poverty, unemployment, a lack of technical skills, mental health issues, and drug abuse while simultaneously maintaining the safety of the public at a cheap cost. Most of these issues interconnect, and if one leaves one unaddressed, it paves a path for others. 

Policing Issues

The police have a lot of leeway in how they carry out their duties, including deciding where to go when interacting with an individual in the community who is suffering from mental illness. In most situations, the police employ non-conventional measures, such as attempting to “comfort” the individual or transporting him or her home. However, in rare situations, the public policy restricts a police officer’s discretion.

For example, if someone with a mental disorder commits a major crime, the outcome is clear: law enforcement arrests and transports that individual to jail due to the nature of the act. In this case, authorities typically anticipate evaluating and treating the person’s mental health while they are in jail.  In some situations, authorities may mistake mental illness for alcohol or addiction, especially if they arrest the subject consuming alcohol or drugs.

Another issue is that the turmoil surrounding an interaction with the police and the public can lead to the oversight of indicators of a psychiatric condition. Moreover, if there is violence at the moment of arrest, the individual with mental illness is more likely to end up in jail. Furthermore, with the implementation of severe civil commitment procedures, accessing treatment services may be difficult for those who decline treatment. As a result, the differential care delivery in jail may impact police officers’ decisions about whether or not to arrest a mentally ill person.

Impacts on Individuals and Communities

The security and safety of its inhabitants are a primary priority of any community. Communities demand that police officers should be accountable for how they serve and protect them and that they make the right decisions when situations become heated or dangerous. In exchange, communities must invest in police officers and their protection.

To begin with, this understanding between the community and the cops relies on loyalty, empathy, and a shared goal for everyone. It also depends on rigorous training, a full awareness of and regard for rights, rules that direct law enforcement personnel toward the objectives that the community desire policing to achieve, and adequate and timely repercussions for individuals and agencies that fail to achieve those goals. We may witness a collapse in connections between community and policing when any of these parts are lacking.

While police officers should know mental health concerns and how to engage with persons who are having problems that jeopardize public safety. They should never be a person’s initial point of contact with the mental health sector. It is important to scale up other public services, such as mental disorders, and drug addiction. That way the cops need not to depend upon to perform tasks for which they are unqualified.

Influences of Technology

Major changes in policing have resulted from technological breakthroughs. Communication, for instance, has become a lot better. Officers now have mobile phones and are in charge of overseeing communications using modern police transmitters that can scan different networks or regions at once. Patrol cars also have sophisticated computer-aided dispatching systems installed. These communication systems help police react to requests for service more rapidly, collect investigation data more efficiently, and dispatch incidents without the use of radio communication. When cops must give heed to many multiple devices, technology might have unforeseen repercussions. 

Various technologies give a mobile team of cops, and psychiatrists, to either respond to mentally ill people who are in crisis in the communities. Many jurisdictions employ sworn police officers with a specialist in mental health to conduct intervention and operate as liaisons with the mental care sector. The Memphis model is a term to describe this method.

Contemporary Evidence-based Policing Strategy

Evidence-based policing aims to improve policy, operative engagements, and policy while remaining cognizant of the inherent unpredictability of policing. The most effective strategy to integrate evidence-based techniques within policing should be to have specialists on the subject work for agencies. Police agencies employ a system in which they recruit mental health advisors. Agents in the area can get on-site and cellphone consultations from these professionals.

Another generally accepted technique is to deploy acute healthcare teams, which are made up of mental health specialists who are involved in the local community mental health system within the police dept. to address special needs at the scene of an incident. These specialist mobile crisis teams’ main objectives are to settle the crisis and eliminate criminalization. According to studies, such teams had incarceration rates between 2 to 13 percent, compared to a 21% rate of crime for unspecialized police officers interacting with people. This finding supports the theory that a tailored reaction reduces the number of unnecessary arrests.

Whether or not police officers work as part of a group with mental health professionals, they must acquire all data from previous police encounters. Certain characteristics of the person’s activities attempting suicide, aggression, as well as how the former interaction was addressed, may be included (Kane & Evans, 2018). This metadata, as well as images of the suspect, is entered into the criminal database and transferred daily to computers carried by the mobile crisis management team. 

Moreover, mental health education is required for all officers. The most successful teaching method is delivered both by police officers and psychiatrists. Furthermore, defusing the circumstances that could escalate the use of lethal force against people with mental illnesses should be prioritized.

Call to Action

Neither the policing nor the mental health system can handle emergencies all alone. Even if they have specialist mental health education, policemen must remember that their basic task is still that of law enforcement. For example, in one program wherein cops and therapists collaborate closely in teams, the police’ main responsibilities are providing protection that restricts the risks of violence, and also providing service to the therapeutic center.

People with mental illnesses have been assassinated or gravely injured while attempting to handle their crises. The community has been furious, and police officers and mental health experts have been frustrated. Successful working cooperation between police officers and mental health services must be created to prevent these catastrophic blunders and provide better safety for all.

References

Dempsey, C., Quanbeck, C., Bush, C., & Kruger, K. (2020). Decriminalizing mental illness: specialized policing responses. CNS spectrums, 25(2), 181-195.

Kane, E., & Evans, E. (2018). Mental health and policing interventions: Implementation and impact. Mental Health Review Journal.

McDaniel, J. L. (2019). Reconciling mental health, public policing and police accountability. The Police Journal, 92(1), 72-94.

Sadulski, J. (2017, October). Unintended consequences of technology in policing. Police1. Retrieved June 18, 2022.