This month’s Police Chief addresses some of the nontraditional roles our officers find themselves filling in their communities.

With each passing year, our profession is thrust more deeply into the realm of attempting to help those experiencing homelessness, those struggling with untreated mental health needs, and those grappling with severe drug and alcohol addictions. Police officers have hearts for public service—that is undeniable. But, for many of these more social service–related issues, we find ourselves not unwilling, but rather untrained, unequipped, and unprepared to deal with of the effects of untreated mental health and addiction issues. In most cases, our officers find a helpful way through these situations, but, in some cases, these scenarios instead end in tragedy.

As a profession, we are constantly looking for ways to address this expanded role of our traditional law enforcement duties and functions. We look to grow and im-prove our abilities to respond to homelessness, work with those with substance abuse disorders, and appropriately interact with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. We also look to improve our officers’ abilities to de-escalate tense situations and understand how to best help our at-risk populations. To meet these needs and many others, agencies have created cutting-edge, co-responder models, coupling police and mental health professionals for in-field service delivery and immediate response needs. Agencies have also begun pioneering partnerships to help social service partners accomplish their mission, and thereby prevent situations from becoming a law enforcement issue later.

This Police Chief magazine edition highlights the great work occurring in agencies that better fills a void in social service delivery and better prepares officers to handle the resulting situations they face in the field. These tools, techniques, partnerships, policies, and practices are geared toward providing a safe outcome for the person experiencing the crisis, as well as a safe working environment and positive result for the responding officers.

In today’s environment, the work we are doing in this area is even more challenging due to public cries to defund the police and the voices that call for police to perform only criminal enforcement—and in some communities, only violent criminal enforcement—leaving nonviolent violations to be handled by non-police personnel. Amid this push and pull of the current dialogue stand our officers. Their daily patrol shift has not changed. Every day, they get called to respond to someone in need. Each shift, they interact with someone experiencing a mental health crisis or a person with extreme addiction issues. As their police leaders work through the dialogue with community and elected officials, these officers need to be given the policies, tools, and techniques to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. This edition offers some of those protocols and best practices for working with at-risk populations.

“Officers need to be given the policies, tools, and techniques to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible.”

While there is probably near universal agreement that law enforcement’s job is different than social service and public health work, we also must be cognizant of understanding that withdrawing ourselves from this space before another solution is ready to be implemented is not the answer. And so, as police leaders, we must operate in two spaces. First, we must be preparing our officers and organizations as best as possible for the work they currently do in these areas; and second, we must work diligently to demand the creation of the framework needed to replace police officers as the solution to homelessness, addiction, and social service needs. With one of my presidential initiatives centering on this topic, the IACP is currently working with a variety of professions outside law enforcement to discuss what such a framework should look like and how it can be created. And, as we work toward that goal, we also provide this month’s magazine of current best practices for law enforcement engagement in these areas.

April begins the fourth month of 2021. As vaccinations begin to roll out and restaurants and other businesses begin to reopen, we all look forward to the coming months bringing us closer to full social connection and regathering. The IACP is planning for an in-person conference in New Orleans. Louisiana, in September 2021, and I look forward to seeing many of you there—and, hopefully, seeing many of you even before then.

Be well, stay safe, and as always, thank you for all you do each and every day. 🛡

Please cite as

Cynthia E. Renaud, “The Way Forward for Critical Need Response,” President’s Message, Police Chief 88, no.4 (April 2021): 6–7.