Part of the Professional Policing Curriculum in Practice series, this text covers the important contemporary topic of policing those who may have poor mental health are classed as vulnerable or at risk, which runs throughout the policing curriculum. It examines how policing has evolved when dealing with vulnerable people and covers situations such as county lines, modern slavery and online bullying and harassment. It emphasises the importance of the overall police response as part of a multi-agency approach and promotes the need for individual professional curiosity from police officers. Case studies add to the rich knowledge base provided, and critical questions and examples of evidence-based practice are included to embed understanding and help cement theory. Students will develop their critical thinking abilities and gain the confidence to recognise and deal with the complex issues associated with this topic.

Part of the Professional Policing Curriculum in Practice series, this text covers the important contemporary topic of policing those who may have poor mental health are classed as vulnerable or at risk, which runs throughout the policing curriculum. It examines how policing has evolved when dealing with vulnerable people and covers situations such as county lines, modern slavery and online bullying and harassment. It emphasises the importance of the overall police response as part of a multi-agency approach and promotes the need for individual professional curiosity from police officers. Case studies add to the rich knowledge base provided, and critical questions and examples of evidence-based practice are included to embed understanding and help cement theory. Students will develop their critical thinking abilities and gain the confidence to recognise and deal with the complex issues associated with this topic.

This book explores the relationship between policing and mental health. Police services around the world are innovating at pace in order to develop solutions to the problems presented, and popular models are being shared internationally. Nevertheless, disparities and perceptions of unfairness remain commonplace. Innovations remain poorly funded and largely unproven. Drawing together the insights of eminent academics in the UK, the US, Australia and South Africa, the edited collection evaluates the condition of mental health and policing as an interlocked policy area, uncovering and addressing a number of key issues which are shaping police responses to mental health. Due to a relative lack of academic texts pertaining to developments in England and Wales, the volume contains a distinct section on relevant policies and practices. It also includes sections on US and Australian approaches, focusing on Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs), Mental Health Intervention Teams (MHITs), stressors and innovations from Boston in the US to Queensland in Australia. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars in policing, criminology, sociology, mental health, cultural studies, social theory and those interested in learning about the condition and trajectory of police responses to mental health.

This edited collection brings together scholars and practitioners to consider the ways in which policing organisations approach vulnerability and the strategies they develop to reduce victims, offenders and police officers’ susceptibility to increased harm. Based on their work with policing services, the public criminologists and critical policing scholars collected together in this edited volume consider vulnerability in terms of people, processes, and institutional practices. While more attention is being paid to some experiences of vulnerability — particularly at the later stages of the criminal justice process — this collection will be the first to focus on the specific issues faced by policing services as the front end of criminal justice. The case studies of vulnerability in each chapter offer the reader new insights into the operational concerns in working with vulnerable people (including vulnerable police officers). This collection is ideally suited for scholars of applied criminal justice studies (including policing studies), police recruits and officers in training, and policing practitioners such as policy and program development officers.

Police departments in many parts of the world have set up specific programs with crisis intervention teams to facilitate police contact with the mentally ill. Focusing chiefly on jurisdictions in Australia, this volume also examines several of these programs in North America, Europe, and parts of the developing world. The 16 chapters in this book offer a wide range of cross-cultural perspectives on this essential aspect of policing, enabling police practitioners to develop a best practices approach to managing their interactions with this vulnerable segment of the community.

Access to mental health crisis care is limited, particularly at night. Where people do not have access to appropriate emergency healthcare, the police have become the de facto - "first aid response to mental distress". Many of the people that come into contact with the police in this way are already known to the health services - as many as two-thirds of those. detained by the police under s. 136 of the Mental Health Act are already in receipt of mental health care. And yet the police are not confident they are qualified or the right people to be dealing with such situations. This inquiry is largely focused on what happens in those situations when the police are called to someone in crisis. People who experience mental illness, like everyone else, can come into contact with the police for a wide variety of reasons, the common ones being they might be suspected of having committed a crime, they might have been the victim of a crime, they might be reported as missing, or they might experience a mental health crisis, where they may be so ill that their safety, or the safety of others, could be at risk. One in four people will suffer from mental health illness at some point, and their illness brings with it a vulnerability that makes it likely they will come into contact with the police. This vulnerability is particularly relevant in a mental health crisis, and when they do so, it should be considered primarily as a health matter, so they can seek and receive support from a mental health team, or if they call 999 to ask for help, the first responders should be health professionals. Unfortunately, mental health services are not always available. Mental health services have deteriorated over many years and under successive governments. There is evidence that some people, particularly from black and ethnic minority communities, are reluctant to engage with mental health services if they have previously had a poor experience. This can lead to treatment being avoided or delayed, and people seeking help only when it reaches crisis point..

This brief addresses the question of the various ways in which mental health-related issues have become police responsibility. It provides a detailed understanding of the myriad of ways in which police are often called upon to be the primary responder to mental health-related issues, well beyond the standard media images of individuals in extreme crisis. Drawing upon the results of two separate ethnographies of police practices in Canada, this volume examines how public policing has become entangled in cases of persons with mental illness (PMI). It examines two aspects of the police role and mandate that brings police officers into contact with individuals dealing with mental health disorders: public safety, and crime prevention and response. It explores police perceptions towards the roles they play in the lives of PMI, and police demands in these types of calls for service that have transformed aspects of public policing. Appropriate for policing researchers, law enforcement and public policymakers, this book presents the argument that tackling this matter requires knowledge of police involvement in situations with PMI, as well as a set of evidence-based policy options that will not generate additional resource or other strains.