NCJ Number
163448
Journal
Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: (1995) Pages: 315-329
Date Published
1995
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the results of a survey of California law enforcement agencies to assess the experience of these agencies with mentally ill offenders and the training of their officers to interact with this population.
Abstract
The results suggest that most law enforcement officers are given insufficient training to identify, manage, and appropriately refer the mentally ill offenders they are increasingly likely to encounter. The data indicate that, in contrast to their training and expectations, peace officers are as likely to be called to a mental illness crisis as to a robbery. The mentally ill offender is likely to be arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors and to be screened by officers with little of the training or knowledge needed to divert them to appropriate mental health treatment. Respondents to the survey reported that increased communication and cooperation between law enforcement and mental health professionals is the single greatest improvement needed for handling mental illness crises. Table, references