Emerging partnerships between mental health and law enforcement

Police departments in the 194 U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or m ore were surveyed in 1996 to identify strategies they used to obtain input from the mental health system about dealing with mentally ill persons. A to tal of 174 departments responded (90 percent). Ninety-six departments had n o specialized response for dealing with mentally ill persons. Among the 78 departments with special programs, three basic strategies were found: a pol ice-based specialized police response, a police-based specialized mental he alth response, and a mental-health-based specialized mental health response . At least two-thirds of all departments, even those with no specialized re sponse program, rated themselves as moderately or very effective in dealing with mentally ill persons in crisis.