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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Crisis Intervention Teams May Prevent Arrests Of People With Mental Illnesses, Randy Borum, Stephanie Franz
Crisis Intervention Teams May Prevent Arrests Of People With Mental Illnesses, Randy Borum, Stephanie Franz
Randy Borum
Historically, as many as 7–10% of US police contacts have involved persons with mental illnesses, with a disproportionate amount of these encounters resulting in arrest, usually for minor offenses. Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) were created, and have proliferated, to ameliorate this problem by offering a specialized response and serving – at least informally – as a liaison between mental health services and police departments. Because preventing unnecessary arrests is one of CIT’s principal objectives, this study examined the arrest rates of persons with mental illnesses and the number of arrests that might have been prevented after the implementation of a …
Comparing Outcomes Of Major Models Of Police Responses To Mental Health Emergencies, Randy Borum
Comparing Outcomes Of Major Models Of Police Responses To Mental Health Emergencies, Randy Borum
Randy Borum
OBJECTIVE: The study compared three models of police responses to incidents involving people thought to have mental illnesses to determine how often specialized professionals responded and how often they were able to resolve cases without arrest. METHODS: Three study sites representing distinct approaches to police handling of incidents involving persons with mental illness were examined-Birmingham, Alabama; and Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee. At each site, records were examined for approximately 100 police dispatch calls for "emotionally disturbed persons" to examine the extent to which the specially trained professionals responded. To determine differences in case dispositions, records were also examined for 100 …