TY - JOUR
T1 - Police Response Models for Handling Encounters with People Suffering from Mental Illnesses
T2 - a Survey of Police Chiefs
AU - Seo, Chunghyeon
AU - Kim, Bitna
AU - Kruis, Nathan E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Southern Criminal Justice Association.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - To effectively respond to scenes involving people with mental illnesses (PWMI), many police departments in the United States have implemented police response models (PRMs) that improve officer training on mental illness and/or solicit cooperation with mental healthcare providers. No existing study has focused on examining police chiefs’ attitudes toward the effectiveness of PRMs. To help fill this gap in the literature, the current study analyzed survey data (N = 190) collected from police chiefs working in Pennsylvania to estimate the extent of favorability toward PRMs and to examine if the predictors of favorability toward PRMs vary across types of PRMs (i.e., CIT, co-response models, and other models with reduced training hours). Findings revealed that police chiefs showed favorable attitudes toward the CIT and co-response models, and their perceptions of these models were associated with the adoption of a PRM in their agencies. Further, results from multivariate analyses indicated that there are some differences in the factors that predict chiefs’ favorability toward the CIT and co-response models compared to other models with reduced training hours (OMRTH). Potential policy implications and directions for future research in light of these findings are discussed within.
AB - To effectively respond to scenes involving people with mental illnesses (PWMI), many police departments in the United States have implemented police response models (PRMs) that improve officer training on mental illness and/or solicit cooperation with mental healthcare providers. No existing study has focused on examining police chiefs’ attitudes toward the effectiveness of PRMs. To help fill this gap in the literature, the current study analyzed survey data (N = 190) collected from police chiefs working in Pennsylvania to estimate the extent of favorability toward PRMs and to examine if the predictors of favorability toward PRMs vary across types of PRMs (i.e., CIT, co-response models, and other models with reduced training hours). Findings revealed that police chiefs showed favorable attitudes toward the CIT and co-response models, and their perceptions of these models were associated with the adoption of a PRM in their agencies. Further, results from multivariate analyses indicated that there are some differences in the factors that predict chiefs’ favorability toward the CIT and co-response models compared to other models with reduced training hours (OMRTH). Potential policy implications and directions for future research in light of these findings are discussed within.
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U2 - 10.1007/s12103-020-09577-7
DO - 10.1007/s12103-020-09577-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092180183
SN - 1066-2316
VL - 46
SP - 793
EP - 814
JO - American Journal of Criminal Justice
JF - American Journal of Criminal Justice
IS - 5
ER -