An Investigation into the Preventative Measures for Proactive Police Responses to Mental Health Crisis Calls: A Critical Review
An Investigation into the Preventative Measures for Proactive Police Responses to Mental Health Crisis Calls: A Critical Review
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Issue Date
2022-12-08
Authors
Mitchell, Teagan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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Abstract
Across the globe, there have been more instances in the news where police are responding to calls and the individual is undergoing a mental health crisis. Based on systematic review of literature and critiquing of methodology, the author examined police responses to mental health crisis calls, as well as current preventative measures that have been put in place for proactive responses. The following questions were kept in mind: What programs or practices are being utilized to improve police responses to individuals experiencing mental health crises, how effective are these models in responding to individuals experiencing mental health crises, and how do police officers' own mental health impact their responses? This study suggests that implementing proactive police responses such as co-response teams or offering specialized training in mental health is effective and has an increased benefit to officers and the public. Many officers who were not part of a co-response team or who have not received specialized mental health training were more likely to identify feeling ill-prepared in responding to mental health crisis calls, whereas the officers who did participate had better outcomes in regard to the number of arrests made and an increase in referrals to community services. Lastly, the findings suggest that these preventative measures or proactive police responses contributed to creating a sense of safety to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis by having responders successfully deescalate the situation and connect them to the proper mental health supports. After critiquing the methodology, clear limitations and barriers were identified in the steps needed to be taken to create real systemic change.
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Keywords
preventative measures , proactive police response , mental health crisis calls
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess