Interactions Involving Police and People Displaying Mental Illnesses
Ania Jackson
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Police interactions with a person displaying signs of mental illness are often negative. Police are usually the first to respond and often times; the interaction is violent or even fatal. Recent studies show that 6-10% of all police contacts with the public in the US involve persons with serious mental illness (Livingston, 2016). Recently, there have been an increasing number of police interactions with a person displaying a mental illness. This increase leads me to ask are police officers properly trained to spot and adequately deal with a mentally ill person? Why is it that when a terror attack
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Data about their attitudes and behaviors were collected before and after the training to analyze if and how the training affected them. The officers were given feedback during the training, both positive feedback and feedback on things that could be improved which helped increase their behavioral self-awareness. This training had a positive effect on the officers that participated so much that six months later, these behavioral improvements were still present. Officers spent less time on mental health call; they were better at communicating and de-escalating the situation. Because they received this hands on training, they became more knowledgeable and their interactions became much more positive. (Krameddine & Silverstone, 2015) concluded that try to change the behavior and not the attitude isn’t an effective measure, instead one should focus on changing the behavior because it yielded a positive result. There are a lot of mental illness training programs for police officers but because they haven’t been evaluated yet, it’s not known whether or not if they’re effective (Krameddine & Silverstone, 2015). Krameddine and Silverstone came up with a total of ten things that they suggest should be carried out when training police officers to ensure consistency which are: 1. The mental health calls that police attend, 2. The time required during each mental health call, 3. The number of use of force occurrences in mental health calls, 4. Supervisor ratings of officers for empathic communication (from 0 to 10), 5. Satisfaction measures of mentally ill individuals that interacted with a police officer, 6. Satisfaction measures of the community and mental health services that interacted with a police officer, 7. Number of arrests compared to the total number of mental health interactions, 8. Number of injuries during a police interaction with those who may have a mental
Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.
Correctional institutions are unique work settings because of the unpredictable nature of their physical environment and clientele. Correctional officers are responsible for supervising individuals whom are held against their will. The correctional officer’s main focus is that of security within the institution and for the community. However, they are typically faced with a limited amount of resources and thus must assume these responsibilities without adequate support. The relationship between work resources and job stress indicates that correctional work settings that emphasize involvement, coworker cohesion and managerial support can decrease stress levels (Waters, 1999). Unfortunately, this is a rather uncommon occurrence, leaving correctional officers to face stressors without proper intervention due to fear of stigmatization. Within law enforcement, those individuals who access “mental health” services are labeled as and treated similarly (Aredondo, Shumway, Kimball, Dersch, Morelock, 2002). However, research on effective ways to prevent or reduce the physical and psychological effects of the high levels of stress correctional officers face on a daily basis is limited and a rather new phenomenon. This literature review examines the reasons for correctional officer stress, the implications of such stress, and interventions that are being put in place to combat the consequences of such stress.
Mental Illness has been prevalent all throughout our history from Isaac Newton to Abraham Lincoln to Sylvia Plath and so on. These illnesses can be as minor as a slight bipolar disorder or as severe as schizophrenia. In recent years, mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent in our criminal justice systems than anywhere else. Mental illness is becoming an association with crime and based on the information that has been found, this paper will attempt to further define the problem of mental illness within our criminal justice system and offer alternatives or insights as to how to possibly help with this problem.
the psychological health of police, fire, and ambulance officers.” International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 11, pp. 227-44.
Spencer, Susan. “Mental Health First Aid: A Concept Whose Time Has Come.” Worcester Telegram & Gazette [Massachusetts] 15 Jan. 2014: n. pag. NewsBank Special Reports. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
There is no denial in the fact that such happenings result in loss of both life and materials. Also, people remain in a state of panic and assume every other race to be a terrorist. This in turn reduces
Many times people with an untreated mental illness behave in an abnormal manner that is disturbing to the public, causing them to be perceived as frightening and dangerous which attracts the attention of police officers. Harrington agrees that, “Without the medication they need to keep their illness in check, they sometimes lapse into psychophysics and behave in bizarre ways.”(Harrington) A mentally unstable individual’s perspective of what is, and what is not acceptable varies from that of a healthy person. Therefore, they are unable to comprehend proper public behavior. From public urination to public nesciences, they are charged with misdemeanors and sentenced to jail. Shannon Fiack emphasizes that “There is a fundamen...
Markowitz, F. E. (2011). Mental illness, crime, and violence: Risk, context, and social control. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36-44.
Police departments would have to hire certain outside professionals such as psychiatrists to train the police officers on how to handle mental health situations or how to recognize the time. Some police departments only train a few specialized members to go on calls with mental health situations to help, but they cannot go on all of the calls. The funds for mental health are not being used correctly. Most funds are going towards mental health institutes or therapies and treatments. Little is going to the police departments.
NASMHPD. (2014, Accessed April 27). Retrieved from NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM DIRECTORS: http://www.nasmhpd.org/About/AOMultiStateDisaster.aspx
Corrections work is made for special people. “Corrections officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder at more than double the rate of military veterans in the US” (Lisitsina, 2015). This is an astonishing thought knowing what war is like across the world and the impact it has on our soldiers. This knowledge makes it difficult on new corrections officers heading into their new positions in jails and prisons. PTSD is a major health problem that can lead to suicide. A study, “found that corrections officers have a suicide rate that is twice as high as the rate of police officers and the general population” (Pitarro, 2017). When officers are put in high stress positions they also become, “less effective at their jobs and they are more likely to display withdrawal symptoms of increased absenteeism, tardiness, and an anticipation of turnover” (Tewksbury and Higgins, 2006). Needless to say, the job can lead to a series of mental health issues and consequences for the officers, which puts them at
“Understanding the Relationship between Mental Disorder and Violence: The Need for a Criminological Perspective.” Law and Human Behavior 30(6):685-706. Silver, Eric and Brent Teasdale. 2005. “Mental Disorder and Violence: An Examination of Stressful Life Events and Impaired Social Support.” Social Problems 52(1):62-78.
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training provided by the San Antonio Police Department has become mandatory for all recruits in the police academy and more than 1,700 of the roughly 2,260 sworn officers in the San Antonio Police Department have undergone the full 40 hour course.3 Even EMTs, firefighters, dispatchers, school administrators, and school police officers have received CIT training.4 Similarly the Bexar County sheriff's office, has trained nearly 90 percent of its roughly 1,430 sworn officers and has long had its own mental health unit, which responds to crisis calls, delivers warrants, and transports patients to state mental hospitals.5 To remarkable results since its implementation in 2009, with the unit, as of October of 2016, having used force just seven times.6 These three 2 officer teams, that are trying to expand, operate differently than the rest of the department; by choosing which calls to respond to, dress in street clothes, concealing their weapons, and avoid using a command presence to try to stay non
The potential for physical debilitation, mental trauma and even death is a constant stressor for law enforcement agencies and individuals. The evolution of police work has demanded that the individual engaged is physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to handle the hazards of the job. The processes used in the selection of potential police
Since the inception of this niche in psychology, there has been a greater appreciation for the use of police psychological services. Now almost every police department has a separate psychology department with a number of psychologists working with its other employees. This specialized subset of psychology delivers a number of services to its employees, from assessing qualified applicants, counseling, to suspect profiling and providing expertise during hostage situations. The field has grown tremendously, especially over the last 40 years and has developed into its own sub-specialty with its own dedicated research, journals and professional organizations. During that time, there have been great strides made in developing this relationship betwe...