Building on mental health training for law enforcement: strengthening community partnerships

• Pages: 207-212
• Published date: 11 September 2017
• Date: 11 September 2017
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-10-2016-0060
• Author: Jorien Campbell,Cyrus Ahalt,Randall Hagar,William Arroyo
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Building on mental health training for law

enforcement: strengthening community

partnerships

Jorien Campbell, Cyrus Ahalt, Randall Hagar and William Arroyo

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of law enforcement training related to

the high number of interactions with persons with mental illness, and to recommend next steps in preparing

law enforcement to effectively meet this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors reviewed the current literature on relevant law enforcement

training programs, focusing primarily on crisis intervention team (CIT) training, and used the case example of

California to identify opportunities to improve and enhance law enforcement preparedness for the challenge

of responding to persons with mental illness.

Findings –Broad-based community partnerships working together to develop programs that meet the local

needs of both those with mental illness and law enforcement, the availability of mental health treatment

centers with no-refusal policies, and a coordinating person or agency to effectively liaise among stakeholders

are critical enhancements to CIT training.

Originality/value –As increasing attention is paid to adverse interactions between police and vulnerable

populations, this paper identifies policies that would build on existing training programs to improve police

responses to persons with mental illness.

Keywords Criminal justice system, Health policy, Forensic psychiatry, Correctional healthcare, Violence,

Police custody

Paper type Viewpoint

Introduction

As a result of dramatic changes in the US mental health system, there is now a dearth of

psychiatric hospital beds and an absence of community-based mental health treatment. This has

led to a marked increase of mentally ill individuals who are homeless, incarcerated, or in

emergency rooms waiting for psychiatric beds to be found (Torrey et al., 2008, 2010). The USA

now houses more than three times the number of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) in

prison or jail than in all psychiatric hospitals (Torrey et al., 2010). A decrease in the number of

psychiatric hospital beds and an increase in the number of places for individuals with SMI in other

institutions, including prisons, is a global trend (Chow and Priebe, 2016). The 12-month

prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the prisons of Spain, Greece, and Australia is 90.2, 45.06,

and 80 percent, respectively (Zabala-Baños et al., 2016; Alevizopoulos and Igoumenou, 2016;

Butler et al., 2006).

Law enforcement agencies have played an increasingly visible and important role in the

management of individuals with SMI including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major

depressive disorder, and co-occurring substance use disorders. In the US city of

San Francisco alone, the police department received a total of 13,671 calls involving people

in a potential men tal health crisis in the three-month p eriod between Aug ust 1, 2016 and

October 31, 2016 (Molina et al., 2016). Outside of the USA, law enforcement officers have also

become de facto firs t responders to ment al health crises. I n the UK, Metropolit an Police

Received 3 October 2016

Revised 12 December 2016

2 May 2017

30 May 2017

Accepted 14 June 2017

This paper received funding

support from the University of

California Criminal Justice & Health

Consortium. The authors declare

no conflicts of interests.

Jorien Campbell is based at the

Department of Psychiatry,

University of California San

Francisco, San Francisco,

California, USA.

Cyrus Ahalt is the Program

Director at the Department of

Medicine, University of

California San Francisco, San

Francisco, California, USA.

Randall Hagar is the Director of

Government Relations at

California Psychiatric

Association, Sacramento,

California, USA.

William Arroyo is based at the

Department of Psychiatry,

University of Southern

California, Los Angeles,

California, USA.

DOI 10.1108/IJPH-10-2016-0060 VOL. 13 NO. 3/4 2017, pp. 207-212, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200

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