CALIFORNIA LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE MENTALLY-ILL OFFENDER

This article reviews the results of a survey of California law enforce ment agencies, designed to assess the experience of these agencies wit h mentally ill offenders (MlOs) and the training of their officers to interact with this population. The results suggest that most law enfor cement officers are given insufficient training to identify, manage, a nd appropriately refer the MlOs they are increasingly likely to encoun ter. The data indicate that, in contrast to their training and expecta tions, peace officers are as likely to be called to a mental illness c risis as to a robbery. The MIO is likely to be arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors and to be screened by officers with little of the traini ng or knowledge needed to divert them to appropriate mental health tre atment. Respondents report that increased communication and cooperatio n between law enforcement and mental health professionals is the singl e greatest improvement needed for handling mental illness crises.