Community members suffering from untreated mental illness can significantly impact law enforcement operations.
They can frequently cause officers to become involved in situations that require police intervention because of erratic behavior, symptoms that instigate violence or an increased likelihood of being arrested for minor offenses. This can happen because the individual’s mental state hinders their ability to understand or respond appropriately to police commands.
When a community member’s mental illness is not addressed, it can cause the officer to misinterpret a behavior, making situations more difficult to de-escalate and increasing the risks associated with responding to resistance when an individual does not comply. While people with mental illness deserve help, their mental illness can often go untreated because of a lack of recognition or resources to address the root cause.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, local government policies should focus on investments in early intervention, comprehensive community mental health, robust crisis response systems and diversion strategies to decriminalize people with mental illness and connect people to the appropriate care. Untrained police officers may mistakenly determine a person in a mental health crisis to be a violent criminal, and wrongly charge and apprehend them, creating increased liability.
Police agencies can take steps to help address the mental health crisis and reduce the potential liability exposure. They can train police officers to recognize mental health issues and teach officers to identify warning signs of mental illness, to de-escalate situations and to connect individuals in crisis with appropriate help. Another step a department can take is developing a crisis intervention team. This involves having specially trained individuals that may work more collaboratively with mental health professionals.
Here are some resources to help police departments address mental illness in those they serve:
- SC Municipal Insurance Trust and SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund members have access to LocalGovU, which offers eLearning courses for police officers on this topic:
- Responding to People with Mental Illness (2-hour course)
- The South Carolina NAMI offers Crisis Intervention Training, which is a five-day program for law enforcement officers to learn how to respond safely and quickly to people with serious mental illness in crisis.
- The South Carolina Department of Mental Health has a Mobile Crisis Services Hotline at 1.833.364.2274. This team has mental health clinicians that provide community-based crisis response anywhere in the state. The providers are fully qualified, masters-level clinicians who work directly with law enforcement, mental health centers, probate and community providers to deliver solution-focused interventions to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
Read about how West Columbia Police Department partnered with Lexington County Community Mental Health Center through its Mobile Crisis program to embed a mental health professional with their officers. Programs like this help address the root of the problem and raise awareness for officers to differentiate a person in a mental health crisis from a violent criminal. Solutions like this not only reduce the risk of injury for the officer, but also reduce liability potential and could help reduce the number of service calls for an agency.
Police departments may be challenged by a growing number of calls involving people with mental health needs. Finding solutions to connect these individuals with the best providers can help address the root cause, and help departments focus their attention on other public safety concerns.
For more information on the resources provided in this article, email losscontrol@masc.sc.