Jl. Steiner et al., COLLABORATION WITH POLICE OFFICERS WITHIN A PARTIAL HOSPITAL PROGRAM, The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 185(4), 1997, pp. 269-273
After an incident of violence in an urban community mental health cent
er, city police officers were hired to provide extra-duty coverage to
one of its satellite programs. The boundaries between clinical and sec
urity functions were not clarified initially, leading to unclear expec
tations regarding roles and responsibilities when handling patient dys
control episodes. The relationship between the clinical staff and the
police developed over the course of a year, in three distinct phases,
into one that is mutually supportive and beneficial. This experience i
s described, with an aim of identifying the challenges and advantages
of participating in this type of collaboration. A conceptual framework
for this interprofessional system is presented.