Working with Law Enforcement
Improving Responses to People with Mental
Illnesses:
The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement–Based Program
This report was prepared by the Council of State
Governments Justice Center
In partnership with the Police Executive Research
Forum. 2008.
This summary was prepared by Lauren Spiro. [Click
to view/download PDF version, (3 pages, 102KB)]
For the full report see, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pdf/LE_Essential_Elements.pdf
Ten Essential Elements
- Collaborative Planning and Implementation - Organizations and individuals
representing a wide range of disciplines and perspectives and with a strong
interest in improving law enforcement encounters with people with mental
illnesses work together in one or more groups to determine the response
program’s characteristics and guide implementation efforts.
- Program Design - The planning committee designs a specialized law
enforcement–based program to address the root causes of the problems that are
impeding improved responses to people with mental illnesses and makes the most
of available resources.
- Inordinate amount of time officers spend waiting for medical clearance in ER
or frequency in which officers repeatedly come in contact with same individuals
w/o effective resolution.
- Enhance understanding of root cause and available resources. What
alternatives are available to increase reach of existing services?
- Assess available & potential resources to address them
should drive short- and long-term goals of the program.
- Officers lack the training to safely de-escalate situation
involving people with MI.
- If officers cannot effectively link people to MH treatment,
another goal may be to streamline the process for connecting to these
services.
- The committee must help interpret the criteria for
emergency MH evaluation and decide how officers will access service.
- The committee should develop personnel selection criteria
and a process for identifying officers best suited for the challenge of
this new role. In particular, planners should consider officers’ ability
to reorient from the more traditional method of gaining control by using
an authoritative approach during a field contact to a nonadversarial,
crisis-intervention style. To the extent possible, the selection process
should be voluntary, yet selective.
- Specialized Training - All law enforcement personnel
who respond to incidents in which an individual’s mental illness appears to
be a factor receive training to prepare for these encounters; those in
specialized assignments receive more comprehensive training. Dispatchers,
call takers, and other individuals in a support role receive training
tailored to their needs.
- The chief law enforcement executive should ensure that
training is also provided to supervisory and support personnel, such as
midlevel managers, field training officers, call takers, and
dispatchers, who advance the specialized program’s operations.
- Planning and implementing a training initiative that
supports the specialized program should be a collaborative effort
between the law enforcement agency and stakeholders represented on the
program coordination group. The coordination group should help guide
training decisions, which include selecting content and techniques,
ensuring
the instruction is culturally competent, identifying and preparing
trainers, and evaluating effectiveness.
- Make certain that the training initiative reflects an
appropriate range of perspectives; members can identify mental health
practitioners, consumers, and family members to provide some of the
training instruction. Likewise, the group helps ensure quality by
establishing a process for consistently reviewing and evaluating
training and then modifying the curriculum based on the findings.
- Training should include stabilization, de-escalation
techniques, community resources, etc.
- Specialized training should improve cross-system
understanding of agencies’ roles and responsibilities.
- Call-Taker and Dispatcher Protocols – Call takers and
dispatchers identify critical information to direct calls to the appropriate
responders, inform the law enforcement response, and record this information
for analysis and as a reference for future calls for service.
- Stabilization, Observation, and Disposition -
Specialized law enforcement responders de-escalate and observe the nature of
incidents in which mental illness may be a factor using tactics focused on
safety. Drawing on their understanding and knowledge of relevant laws and
available resources, officers then determine the appropriate disposition.
- Transportation and Custodial Transfer - Law enforcement
responders transport and transfer custody of the person with a mental
illness in a safe and sensitive manner that supports the individual’s
efficient access to mental health services and the officers’ timely return
to duty.
- Information Exchange and Confidentiality - Law
enforcement and mental health personnel have a well-designed procedure
governing the release and exchange of information to facilitate necessary
and appropriate communication while protecting the confidentiality of
community members.
- Treatment, Supports, and Services - Specialized law
enforcement–based response programs connect individuals with mental
illnesses to comprehensive and effective community-based treatment,
supports, and services.
- Organizational Support - The law enforcement agency’s
policies, practices, and culture support the specialized response program
and the personnel who further its goals.
- Program Evaluation and Sustainability - Data are
collected and analyzed to help demonstrate the impact of and inform
modifications to the program. Support for the program is continuously
cultivated in the community and the law enforcement agency.
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