Law Enforcement and Persons with Mental Illness: Responding Responsibly

Rohrer, Alexander J.

doi:10.1007/s11896-021-09441-2

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Overall, 25% of victims of police shootings have been found to display evidence of mental instability (Stout, 2018). As some research suggests, individuals with psychiatric illness are between 7 and 16 times more likely to be killed by police officers compared to those without (Rohrer, 2021; Saleh et al., 2018). This is a concerning statistic, especially given that victims with mental illness are more likely to be killed at home compared to those without mental illness and are not likely to be armed with a gun (Saleh et al., 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confluence of law enforcement, mental health, and race

Bailey

Barker

Grover

2022

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Disparities in victimization by law enforcement for both people of color and individuals with mental health disorders is gaining national attention following the deaths of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, TAmir Rice, and many others. Despite this, the discussion around the intersectionality of race, psychiatric illness, and law enforcement is still in its infancy, the purpose of this article is to discuss the confluence of race and psychiatric illness as vulnerabilities in various contacts with law enforcement in order to further highlight this issue and to ignite further needed research on this topic. Possible solutions such as police‐hiring practices, bias training, and trauma‐informed policing will be discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confluence of law enforcement, mental health, and race

Bailey

Barker

Grover

2022

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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“…Polizeibedienstete könnten hierbei wie auch bei der Vermittlung von Kompetenzen im Erkennen verschiedener Erkrankungen von Erfahrungen der professionellen Helferinnen und Helfer profitieren. Multiprofessionelle Ansätze könnten hier wie in den USA, in Kanada, Australien, K Großbritannien und in der Schweiz etabliert werden (Beyli-Helmy et al 2020;Rohrer 2021;Wittmann 2021), jedoch nur dann, wenn sich beide Professionen einander weiter annähern. Die Schnittstelle zwischen Psychiatrie, professionellen Helferinnen und Helfern und der Polizei könnte sich dadurch enger verzahnen -wie auch die zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis.…”

Section: Herausforderungen Für Polizeibedienstete Im Kontakt Zu Psychisch Erkrankten Menschenunclassified

Polizeilicher Kontakt zu psychisch erkrankten Menschen

Lorey

Fegert

2021

Forens Psychiatr Psychol Kriminol

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Zusammenfassung Zielsetzung Polizistinnen und Polizisten haben in ihrem beruflichen Alltag häufig Kontakt zu psychisch erkrankten Menschen. Mithilfe dieser Untersuchung sollten diese Kontakte einer genaueren Analyse unterzogen werden. Methode Mittels einer fragebogengestützten Erhebung wurden Polizeibedienstete der Schutz- und Kriminalpolizei aus Baden-Württemberg befragt (n = 2228, 28,2 % weiblich, 71,8 % männlich), wie sie diese Kontakte erleben. Ergebnisse Insgesamt schätzen Polizeibedienstete 18,2 % ihrer Kontaktpersonen als psychisch krank ein. Die häufigsten Kontakte hatte diese Berufsgruppe nach eigenen Angaben zu Personen mit Suchterkrankungen, Depressionen und Schizophrenie. Suchterkrankungen werden in der polizeilichen Wahrnehmung am häufigsten verknüpft mit Eigentumsdelikten, Schizophrenie mit Gewalt- und Körperverletzungsdelikten, Depressionen mit Suiziden oder Suizidversuchen. Die beiden größten beruflichen Herausforderungen sehen die Befragten in der durch sie eingeschätzten Gefährlichkeit der Personen sowie in der schwierigen Vorhersagbarkeit des Verhaltens von psychisch erkrankten Menschen. Für mehr als die Hälfte der befragten Polizeibediensteten (56,7 %) stellen Reaktionsweisen wie beruhigen, empathisch sein, Kommunikation, ruhig bleiben sowie Vertrauen aufbauen im direkten polizeilichen Kontakt zu psychisch erkrankten Menschen eine Herausforderung dar. Polizeibedienstete äußern den deutlichen Wunsch nach Fortbildung bezüglich des Umgangs mit psychisch kranken Menschen (50,4 %) sowie verbesserter Vernetzung zu professionellen Helferinnen und Helfern (39,1 %). Schlussfolgerung Etwa jeder fünfte Kontakt im beruflichen Alltag von Polizeibediensteten erfolgt zu einem psychisch kranken Menschen. Aus Sicht der Polizei stellen psychisch kranke Menschen einerseits eine besonders gefährliche und im Verhalten schwer vorhersagbare Personengruppe dar, andererseits scheint es deutlichen Bedarf an Fortbildung und professioneller Vernetzung zu geben. Eine Thematik, der multiprofessionell begegnet werden sollte.

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“…When a mentally ill person is not expected to be automatically violent and aggressive, responding behavior may be adjusted and conflicts with potential lethal outcomes could be avoided. New programs such as, “the R-Model” crisis intervention de-escalation training ( 10 ), or the “Training and Education about Mental Illness for Police Organizations”—TEMPO ( 11 ) are in need of integrating the perspectives of their main target groups on challenges and needs, which arise from contacts with persons with mental illnesses: the law enforcement personnel itself ( 1 , 12 , 13 ). CIT programs have been developed especially as a police-based approach to provide first responders to emergency calls with methods to prevent inadequate decision-making, regarding arrest or custody involving a PMI.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multiple studies suggest the necessity of adequate training of law enforcement officers to improve their handling of the frequent contact to mentally ill people (1)(2)(3)(4). Police officers are indeed willing to learn about this topic and receive additional training (5,6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We designed a training approach with the aim to improve the interaction between police and person with mental illnesses (PMI) on a qualitative level by surveying police officers' needs and challenges when encountering PMI. Based on these survey results, 1 we developed an exemplary training curriculum with specific suggestions for relevant modules and contents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing Mental Health Literacy in Law Enforcement to Improve Best Practices in Policing—Introduction of an Empirically Derived, Modular, Differentiated, and End-User Driven Training Design

Lorey

Fegert

2021

Front. Psychiatry

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Objective: Law enforcement officers often have contact to persons who show symptoms of mental disorders. Adequately designed training is necessary for developing the best possible practices in policing when coming into contact with mentally ill people, and may help to expand their general knowledge on mental disorders. To achieve a sustainable implementation of training content in daily policing work, the acceptance and proactive integration of methods by the training participants is essential.Method: This study investigates an exemplary modular training curriculum based on a survey with 2,228 German police officers (28.2% female, 71.8% male) concerning their needs and challenges when coming into contact with persons with mental disorders. This empirical end-user driven approach was used to adapt existing training concepts to the current needs and interests of law enforcement personnel in order to maximize compliance.Results: The training program draft includes basic modules which are intended to be of direct interest to all police officers, such as mental disorders with high policing relevance, encountering suicidal patients, (non-directive) communication and de-escalation skills, and mental hygiene in policing. They are arranged in more specialized modules that address specific target group audiences within police forces and the training curriculum provides information about genuine risks and self-protection, trauma sensitivity, and interaction with children and victims among other contents. The self-selectable, modular, and empirically-based continued training program also includes an introduction to local mental health service professionals and networks, trialogue sequences, and situational role play scenarios.Conclusion: Due to frequent contact law enforcement officers have to mentally ill people, improved training designed to maximize knowledge and the integration of trained methods is necessary. Gaining acceptance and proactive support by trainees is ensured through end-user driven implementation of specialized and differentiated up-to-date training programs. Our results showcase how police officers' perspectives on persons with mental illnesses is a main aspect that can and should be used to encourage training course designs.

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Law Enforcement and Persons with Mental Illness: Responding Responsibly

Cited by 18 publications

References 23 publications

Confluence of law enforcement, mental health, and race

Confluence of law enforcement, mental health, and race

Polizeilicher Kontakt zu psychisch erkrankten Menschen

Increasing Mental Health Literacy in Law Enforcement to Improve Best Practices in Policing—Introduction of an Empirically Derived, Modular, Differentiated, and End-User Driven Training Design

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