Policing Services With Mentally Ill People: Developing Greater Understanding and Best Practice

Abstract

Although it is now well known that there is a disproportionate number of people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system, surprising little attention has been paid to the challenges faced by policing people with mental illnesses in the community. This article provides an overview of some of the key findings from a programme of research undertaken in Victoria to further understand and develop a best practice model at this interface. The areas covered will include the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and mental illnesses among police cell detainees; the existing knowledge base and attitudes of police towards mentally ill people; the relationship between mental illness and offending; the frequency and nature of police apprehensions of mentally ill people under the Mental Health Act; the association among mental disorder, police shootings, and other injuries to people as a result of these encounters; and police interactions with victims of crime. The work highlights the need for ongoing improvements in policing people with mental illnesses, and particularly the need for improved inter‐agency practices for dealing with them.

Key words:

• jail inmates
• mental illness
• offenders
• policing
• use‐of‐force
• victims

Acknowledgements

The views provided here do not necessarily represent the official positions of Victoria Police or the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health. The authors are grateful to Chief Commissioner Ken Lay and Alison Creighton for their advice and support of the project, and to Dr Kathy Avent and David Bradley for their assistance with Project PRIMeD. We would like to express our thanks as well to the many police members and mental health professionals who contributed to this work.

Notes

1. These are the comments of a young police officer who participated in interviews as part of the research presented in this article.