Issues in Law Enforcement Reform 2
Abstract
polices response to people with mental health disorders have a greater likelihood of
fatal outcomes than any other call that a police officer may have to respond to. This has raised
some concern and has led to many different people looking into how police officers respond to
mental health Situations. Members of Congress have even taken an interest in these situations
and have begun to look at different ways police officers can respond to these calls and how to
effectively train police officers to deescalate situations involving people who suffer from mental
health disabilities. Some mental health issues can lead to excessive amounts of violence
towards other people or even themselves, people who struggle with mental health are very
irrational and unstable and This is why it is hard to predict their next move meaning that officers
need to be aware of the situation and be ready to always respond in the necessary manner.
There's been a lot of talk about working on a specialized program for law enforcement officers
to help deal with people with mental health issues and train officers how to better
communicate with them and manage the person's anxiety levels that they are dealing with so
that the situations do not get out of hand and keep everybody safe.
Keywords: mental health, law enforcement, specialized programs, police officers,
response
Issues in Law Enforcement Reform 3
Issues in Law Enforcement Reform: Responding to Mental Health Crises
There have been many studies on mental health patients and how each one is different and can
respond to different situations in several ways. Some might suggest that mental health patients
are more likely to be perceived as violent by police officers which can cause deadly situations
and result in fatal outcomes. Throughout the years different organizations have taken on teams
such as the Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs), and Co-Responder Teams (CRTs), to help deal with
people who suffer from severe mental illness (James. N, Et al.,2022). Although these teams have
been effective in dealing with people with mental health issues there's just simply not enough
of them to handle all the different cases that occur daily. (James. N, Et al.,2022) says that “Mental
health crises can include various emergencies such as suicidal ideation, symptoms of psychosis
(e.g., hallucinations, delusions), threats of harm to others, or other significant acute
psychological or emotional distress,” (p. 5).
