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.
Introduction; Section I: Comparisons between Australia and the UK; 1. International Models of Police Response to Mental Illness; 2. Accessing Justice for Mental Health Sufferers? A Comparison of UK and Australian Developments; 3. New Paradigms of Policing Mental Illness in Australia: The Future of 'Mental Health Street-Sweeping'; Section II: Comparisons between the US and the UK; 4. Investment v Impact in Policing and Mental Health: What Works for Police and Suspects; 5. Deaths After Police Contact Involving People with Mental Health Issues; 6. Police Response to People with Mental Illnesses in a Major US City: The Boston Experience with the Co-Responder Model and Mental Health Innovation; Section III: Perspectives from England and Wales; 7. Why do the Police Overuse Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983?; 8. 'This Isn't Just a Case of Taking Someone to The Hospital': Police Approaches and Management of Situations Involving Persons with Mental Ill Health in the Custody Suite and Beyond; 9. Policing, Vulnerability and Mental Health; 10. Policing and Mental Health: Do We Really Get It?; Section IV: The Mental Health of Police Officers and Staff; 11. Police Officer and Staff Wellbeing and the Management of Emotions: An Ethnographic Study of a Force Control Room and Frontline Response Officers; 12. Understanding the Mental Health and Well-being of Police Officers: Causes, Consequences and Responses to Stressors in Police Work; 13. Police Misconduct, Protraction and the Mental Health of Accused Police Officers; 14. The Spectre of Trauma in the South African Police Service; Conclusion.
