Police Officers as First Line Responders: Improving Mental Health Training to Effectively Serve the Mentally Ill Population.

摘要

Policing is a complex and multifaceted job. Police officers' critical role as first line responders in the management and care of the acutely mentally ill, the impact of deinstitutionalization, factors leading to criminalization, police attitudes and perceptions about the mentally ill, police stress and trauma, and the relationship between the mental health system and the criminal justice system were explored in both research literature and through interviews with Field Consultants. The literature and interviews with Field Consultants suggest the importance of ongoing mental health training for police officers; a continuous working relationship and partnership between the criminal justice system and the mental health system is also emphasized. In doing so, police officers are able provide a more effective response that prioritizes treatment over incarceration. The project involved reviewing a collection of existing literature and conducting structured interviews with Field Consultants who are considered to be experts and have professional experience working as current and former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) police psychologists. The author developed a booklet for mental health professionals to use in their training for police officers; the booklet provides police officers with tools that can help them identify individuals with mental illness and/or developmental disabilities and tips on what to do in their interactions to ensure safety for themselves and the individual. An introduction to the project topic, selective literature review, project methodology, results of interviews, booklet evaluation and feedback, limitations of the project, and recommendations for future research are addressed within the project.;Keywords: policing, first line responders, deinstitutionalization, mental health training, law enforcement.