Reducing Risk and Improving Outcomes of Police Interactions with People with Mental Illness

In Canada, 7%–30% of calls for police service involve a person with a mental illness, often experiencing a crisis. Given the variety of community needs and resources, the nature of police responses related to people with mental illnesses will necessarily vary between police organizations. The systems-based Contemporary Policing Guidelines for Working with the Mental Health System developed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police outlines a proactive police approach to interactions with people with mental illness and with the mental health system and identifies general principles that can be applied by any police organization regardless of size or geographical/demographic factors. This will maximize the likelihood that crisis interactions between police and people with mental illnesses are prevented when possible and resolved safely and respectfully when they do occur.