Police Responses to Persons with Mental Illness: The Policy and Procedures Manual of One Australian Police Agency and ‘Procedural Justice Policy’

Abstract

Persons with mental illness (PWMI) often report negative perceptions of police treatment following receiving criminalising and heavy-handed police responses. To appropriately control officer discretion and to harness ethical, legal, and efficient police practice when encountering vulnerable and diverse individuals, police agencies across the world issue policy documents to their officers. These documents serve as a reflection regarding how police agencies aspire to manage PWMI in the community. Using a procedural justice framework, this research measures how a large police agency in Australia aspires to manage PWMI and whether the police policy document provides sufficient detail in advocating the appropriate and just police treatment of PWMI. A content analysis of the policy document revealed a lack of sufficient procedural guidelines in effectively controlling police officer discretion when encountering PWMI in the community. This article argues that without further consolidation to embed appropriate procedural guidelines into the policy document, the procedural policy gaps may have a negative effect on the experiences of PWMI when encountering the police.

“The Response Hasn’t Been a Human-to-Human Response, but a System-to-Human Response”: Health Care Perspectives of Police Responses to Persons with Mental Illness in Crisis

“…But I am afraid that if police officers keep escalating situations, mental health clinicians knowing that will take a bit more risk than they need to… (Support worker 2). This finding supports previous research which finds that if police hastily attempt to force compliance in mental health incidents and do not apply procedurally just policing techniques in interactions with PWMI, it has the potential to escalate a PWMI crisis and may lead to violence (McCluskey 2003;Watson and Angell 2007;Watson et al 2008).…”

“…The value of procedural justice policing has withheld extensive empirical scrutiny over the years, especially in terms of it enhancing public perceptions of police legitimacy, satisfaction for police procedures, and cooperation with police (Murphy and Tyler 2017). In the USA, McCluskey (2003) discovered that "irrational" persons (defined in the study as persons who are intoxicated, mentally ill, or strongly influenced by heightened emotions) were more likely to comply with fair and respectful police directives and were more likely to rebel against disrespectful treatment from police officers than "rational" persons. The sizeable body of research from Watson and colleagues in the USA agree that PWMI value procedurally just policing more than the general population, especially since PWMI may be more fearful of being exploited by an authority figure due their perceived tenuous status in society Angell 2007, 2013;Watson et al 2008Watson et al , 2010Wood and Watson 2017).…”

Men, suicide, and family and interpersonal violence: A mixed methods exploratory study

“…The complex gatekeeping role played by police in managing incidents of violence and self‐harm was evident in the policing of men in crisis. As primary responders to family and intimate partner violence and mental health crises, police make important decisions about whether the criminal justice or mental health systems are the most appropriate pathway (Morgan, 2021). In cases where physical violence, property damage, or another criminal offence occurred, including violation of a DVO, men were charged with a criminal offence.…”