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Building on mental health training for law enforcement: strengthening community partnerships

Jorien Campbell (Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA)
Cyrus Ahalt (Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA)
Randall Hagar (California Psychiatric Association, Sacramento, California, USA)
William Arroyo (Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA)

International Journal of Prisoner Health

ISSN: 1744-9200

Article publication date: 11 September 2017

732

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of law enforcement training related to the high number of interactions with persons with mental illness, and to recommend next steps in preparing law enforcement to effectively meet this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors reviewed the current literature on relevant law enforcement training programs, focusing primarily on crisis intervention team (CIT) training, and used the case example of California to identify opportunities to improve and enhance law enforcement preparedness for the challenge of responding to persons with mental illness.

Findings

Broad-based community partnerships working together to develop programs that meet the local needs of both those with mental illness and law enforcement, the availability of mental health treatment centers with no-refusal policies, and a coordinating person or agency to effectively liaise among stakeholders are critical enhancements to CIT training.

Originality/value

As increasing attention is paid to adverse interactions between police and vulnerable populations, this paper identifies policies that would build on existing training programs to improve police responses to persons with mental illness.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper received funding support from the University of California Criminal Justice & Health Consortium. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Citation

Campbell, J., Ahalt, C., Hagar, R. and Arroyo, W. (2017), "Building on mental health training for law enforcement: strengthening community partnerships", International Journal of Prisoner Health, Vol. 13 No. 3/4, pp. 207-212. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-10-2016-0060

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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