Co-responding police-mental health programs are increasingly used to respond to 'Emotionally Disturbed Persons' in the community; however, there is limited understanding of program effectiveness and the mechanisms that promote program success. The academic and gray literature on co-responding police-mental health programs was reviewed. This review synthesized evidence of outcomes along seven dimensions, and the available evidence was further reviewed to identify potential mechanisms of program success. Co-responding police-mental health programs were found to have strong linkages with community services and reduce pressure on the justice system, but there is limited evidence on other impacts. The relevance of these findings for practitioners and the major challenges of this program model are discussed, and future research directions are identified.

We describe a novel mechanism for protein kinase C regulation of axonal microtubule invasion of growth cones. Activation of PKC by phorbol esters resulted in a rapid, robust advance of distal microtubules (MTs) into the F-actin rich peripheral domain of growth cones, where they are normally excluded. In contrast, inhibition of PKC activity by bisindolylmaleimide and related compounds had no perceptible effect on growth cone motility, but completely blocked phorbol ester effects. Significantly, MT advance occurred despite continued retrograde F-actin flow—a process that normally inhibits MT advance. Polymer assembly was necessary for PKC-mediated MT advance since it was highly sensitive to a range of antagonists at concentrations that specifically interfere with microtubule dynamics. Biochemical evidence is presented that PKC activation promotes formation of a highly dynamic MT pool. Direct assessment of microtubule dynamics and translocation using the fluorescent speckle microscopy microtubule marking technique indicates PKC activation results in a nearly twofold increase in the typical lifetime of a MT growth episode, accompanied by a 1.7-fold increase and twofold decrease in rescue and catastrophe frequencies, respectively. No significant effects on instantaneous microtubule growth, shortening, or sliding rates (in either anterograde or retrograde directions) were observed. MTs also spent a greater percentage of time undergoing retrograde transport after PKC activation, despite overall MT advance. These results suggest that regulation of MT assembly by PKC may be an important factor in determining neurite outgrowth and regrowth rates and may play a role in other cellular processes dependent on directed MT advance.

As police officers are often the first responders to mental health crises, a number of approaches have emerged to support skilled police crisis responses. One such approach is the police-mental health co-responding team model, whereby mental health nurses and police officers jointly respond to mental health crises in the community. In the present mixed-method study, we evaluated outcomes of co-responding team interactions at a large Canadian urban centre by analysing administrative data for 2743 such interactions, and where comparison data were available, compared them to 16 226 police-only team responses. To understand service user experiences, we recruited 15 service users for in-depth qualitative interviews, and completed inductive thematic analysis. Co-responding team interactions had low rates of injury and arrest, and compared to police-only teams, co-responding teams had higher overall rates of escorts to hospital, but lower rates of involuntary escorts. Co-responding teams also spent less time on hospital handovers than police-only teams. Service users valued responders with mental health knowledge and verbal de-escalation skills, as well as a compassionate, empowering, and non-criminalizing approach. Current findings suggest that co-responding teams could be a useful component of existing crisis-response systems.