How Police Officers Assess for Mental Illnesses

ABSTRACT

The authors examined how police officers assess for mental illnesses and how those assessments vary by location. Researchers conducted semistructured interviews with 15 officers working in two police districts in one city. Findings from the study indicate that officers make assessments based on information from dispatch, collateral contacts, and behavioral observations on the scene. The authors also found that neighborhood context shaped the assessment process due to variations in types of information that were available to officers in different locations. The findings indicate that there is a need to improve the quality of all three sources of information.

KEYWORDS:

• policing
• mental illness
• neighborhood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All references to the location have been masked. The specific citations are available from the authors for review under the usually expected conditions of confidentiality.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by National Institute of Mental Health grant no. P30MH079920 (PI Nancy Wolff). The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health.