Police are sent to respond to a call of a mental health emergency and in some cases, there are tragic results. While some departments have implemented protocols to address these situations, sending in teams of experienced officers with special training, using police in these scenarios been called into
Police are sent to respond to a call of a mental health emergency and in some cases, there are tragic results.
“It can be terrifying and depending on how the police person shows up, it could escalate things or it can comfort it. It depends on how police officers present themselves,” she told ABC News. Ajima Olaghere, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Temple University, said a major roadblock for effective responses to mental health emergencies is the fact that there is no uniform policy across the nearly 18,000 police departments across the country.
There are currently 2,700 CIT programs in use throughout the country, which represent about 15 to 17% of the nation’s police forces, according to the JAAPL report. “Our patrol officers and supervisors work in tandem with our elite units to deescalate and offer quick and effective aid to those with behavioral health concerns,” the spokesman said in a statement to ABC News.
Dr. Jennifer Skeem, a professor of psychology at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, who has researched police mental health reforms, agreed and said this stems from the general stigma of mental health in the country.
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