Police officers increasingly deal with the mentally ill

Prisons are seeing an increase in the number of mentally ill inmates, and law enforcement officers are being called to more and more scenes involving the mentally ill. But many police officers aren't trained in such situations, especially now that in some areas 20 percent of the calls involve the mentally ill. The number is 40 percent in places like Newport, R.I., where in August police were called to a hotel to assist a delusional Aaron Alexis, who a month later killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard, Kevin Johnson reports for USA Today. (FBI photo: Aaron Alexis)
 
An increase in calls involving the mentally ill led officials in 1987 in Memphis to create the Crisis Intervention Team, which "offers specialized training to cadres of officers in dealing with the emotionally disturbed," Johnson writes. "It attempts to link police with mental-health professionals and community advocates to provide resources, including treatment outside the confines of prisons and jails, which have become repositories for the mentally ill." More than 2,700 other agencies have since adopted the program. Other departments, such as the one in Newport, provide their own training in dealing with the emotionally disturbed. Officials said the officers acted appropriately in dealing with Alexis, saying at the time he wasn't a harm to himself or others. (Read more)

Providing mental-health care, instead of locking up the mentally ill in prisons, has a positive impact on patients, and costs less, according to researchers at North Carolina State University, the Research Triangle Institute, and the University of South Florida, reports Science Daily. "Researchers identified 4,056 people who had been hospitalized for mental illness in 2004 or 2005 and then tracked them from 2005 to 2012." Co-author Dr. Sarah Desmarais told Science Daily, "Our research shows that people receiving medication were significantly less likely to be arrested. Outpatient services also resulted in a decreased likelihood of arrest."

Researchers also looked at costs between criminal justice and mental health treatment, Science Daily writes. "Individuals who were arrested received less treatment and each cost the government approximately $95,000 during the study period. Individuals who were not arrested received more treatment and each cost the government approximately $68,000 during the study period." Desmarais told Science Daily, "It costs about $10 less per day to provide treatment and prevent crime. That's a good investment." (Read more)