Responding to persons with mental illness (PWMI): Police recruit perceptions of mental health response training and engagement

“Insufficient guidance and a lack of preparation”: Police academy training and the reality of police work

“…Yet previous research suggests that paramilitary approaches to general-duties police training are not necessarily conducive to different learning styles, personalities, and pre-existing interpersonal skills of recruits (Blumberg et al, 2019). In addition, police academy general-duties training is often criticised for its use of hypermasculine modes of instruction (Miles-Johnson, 2019; Morgan & Miles-Johnson, 2022). This idea emerged in the interviews as many of the constables spoke about academy trainers expressing negative attitudes towards recruits based on hypermasculine attitudes, often verbalising derogatory comments about recruits being perceived as weak, and female recruits being out of place in policing.…”

“…According to research by Singletary (2019), police training does not adequately prepare recruits with the specific skills needed when police officers engage with particular members of society. This includes the psychological tools needed when policing mental health (Morgan & Miles-Johnson, 2022) or an acute awareness of the distinct needs by members of diverse groups (Dwyer, Ball, Bond, Dwyer et al, 2017; Dwyer et al, 2020; Miles-Johnson et al, 2021). Although there are established partnerships between many police organisations and higher education institutions, increasing education and training partnerships between police and tertiary education providers is likely to increase the range of skills police officers bring to the profession as well as the overall professionalism of police (Green, 2018; O'Shea & Bartkowiak-Théron, 2019).…”

The Intersection of Health and Justice: An Evaluation of Mental Health First Aid Training for Justice-involved Professionals

“…When dealing with a mental health crisis, a first responder's self-confidence in his or her ability to help is vital. Studies have demonstrated that police officers lack confidence or self-efficacy when interacting PwMI (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022). Without proper training, law enforcement officials may feel that they are incapable of properly handling the situation, causing them to be uncomfortable, to panic, or to resort to methods that they believe ensure the safety of themselves or others (i.e., arrests or violence) (Borum, 2000).…”

“…Nearly half (44%) of individuals incarcerated in U.S. jails have a history of a mental health conditions (Bronson and Berzofsky, 2017), and those with serious mental illness have a 60% five-year re-arrest rate when released from correctional facilities (Torrey et al, 2017). However, despite frequent encounters, law enforcement and corrections officers are often inadequately trained to respond to persons with mental illness (PwMI) (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022).…”

“…Despite their regular contact with civilians with mental health disorders, many justice-involved professionals receive limited - if any - training on how to handle these types of situations (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022). In fact, both police (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022) and correctional officers (Lavoie et al, 2006) report their lack of sufficient training in this area as a critical problem, as PwMI may not respond well to traditional protocol (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022). Law enforcement officials (Morgan and Miles-Johnson, 2022) and detention staff (Lavoie et al, 2006) have advocated for additional training in this area so they can safely and constructively handle situations involving PwMI.…”