A Review of the Effectiveness of Mental Health Responses by Law Enforcement

• In Event: Translating Police Research to Policy and Practice: Initial Work of the IACP/UC Center for Police Research and Policy

Abstract

One of the larger challenges facing law enforcement officers today is handling situations involving citizens with mental disorders. Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) are one of the most popular solutions created to assist police officers in providing these individuals when cognitively impaired due to psychosis, acute mental illness episodes, and emotional trauma with help. Originally adopted from clinical psychology and psychiatry, CIT-trained officers help divert temporarily unstable individuals away from the criminal justice system while also directing them to more effective treatment solutions. Comprehensive reviews of the effectiveness of these approaches, however, are lacking. A review of the literature on this topic can assist police agencies that are considering the adoption of these strategies. This presentation discusses the origin of this treatment, the evolution of CIT practices over the past several years, and the current status of the effectiveness of these interventions in policing.

Authors

• Morgan Steele, University of Cincinnati

• Nicholas A. Corsaro, University of Cincinnati