{"id":39058,"date":"2017-12-01T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T05:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/?p=39058"},"modified":"2024-10-01T08:45:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:45:18","slug":"supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The communities in which police officers work encompass a multitude of individuals with different ages, genders, incomes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, abilities, health statuses, and occupations. Because of these numerous differences among community members, policing is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. While law enforcement officers have an obligation to serve and protect all people equally, how they accomplish this mission depends on a variety of contextual factors that can change dramatically and dynamically, not only from day to day, but also from call to call. The most effective officers, therefore, are those who are trained to read all varieties of people, situations, and circumstances and to adapt accordingly. Adaptive approaches are especially important for policing vulnerable populations, including people who are elderly, people experiencing homelessness, or people with disabilities, substance abuse issues, or physical or mental illnesses.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States has a mental illness, and approximately 1 in 25 adults has a mental illness serious enough to substantially interfere with or impair one or more major life activities.<sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0Because of the prevalence of mental health issues, law enforcement officers regularly encounter persons with mental illness on calls for service. Unfortunately, a \u201clack of consistent policy, procedure, training, and education among law enforcement agencies\u201d means that many of these calls for service end poorly both for citizens and police officers.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>One consequence of poor police interactions with persons with mental illness is recidivism. As explained by IACP\u2019s 2016 report,\u00a0<em>Improving Police Response to Persons Affected by Mental Illness<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>[E]ncounters with first responding law enforcement officers may involve arresting\u00a0persons with mental illness, and then housing them in jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers rather than providing them with treatment from mental health facilities. Thus, many individuals affected by mental illness have become trapped in a cycle of arrest, imprisonment, and recidivism.<\/em><sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>An even more troubling consequence is violence. Individuals who have a mental illness, are experiencing an emotional crisis, or are under the influence of alcohol or drugs are responsible for the majority of assaults against police officers, and these individuals account for one-fourth of those killed in officer-involved shootings.<sup>4<\/sup>\u00a0The potential for injuries or fatalities of the individual, officer, or another community member means that negative outcomes to these interactions can have lifelong implications, notes the 2016 IACP report, adding that \u201cbeyond potential injury or worse, the damage done to meaningful, trusting relationships between police departments and their communities can take years to repair.\u201d<sup>5<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>As the first point of contact with the criminal justice and mental health systems for many individuals, police officers are positioned to manage interactions in a way that can have positive impacts on individuals with mental illness and the communities in which they live. As pointed out by the IACP report,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>The decades-long decline in resources available to mental health providers has, to some degree, forced law enforcement agencies to serve on the frontline of the U.S. mental health crisis. As a result, police officers today play a critical role in ensuring that persons affected by mental illness do not cycle in and out of homelessness and jails, but rather, are diverted to treatment and rehabilitation where appropriate and available.<\/em><sup>6<\/sup><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #568f56;\"><strong>Tucson Police Department: A Case Study of Success<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Tucson, Arizona, Police Department (TPD) has achieved equilibrium regarding\u00a0interactions between police officers and persons with mental illness, thanks to its Mental Health Support Team (MHST), which takes a preventive approach to mental health\u2013related crimes.<\/p>\n<p>MHST came about as a result of a tragedy. On January 8, 2011, 22-year-old shooter Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on a crowd of citizens in the parking lot of a suburban Tucson grocery store, killing 6 people and wounding 13 others. His target was U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was hosting a meet-and-greet with her constituents and who suffered a critical injury during the incident. Mental health professionals subsequently diagnosed Loughner with paranoid schizophrenia, symptoms of which had previously been evident to school officials, campus police, and local law enforcement, although Loughner never received a formal mental health evaluation or treatment.<sup>7<\/sup><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The most effective officers, therefore, are those who are trained to read all varieties of people, situations, and circumstances and to adapt accordingly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At the time of the shooting, TPD was already a leader in crisis intervention training and programming, through which it provided critical outreach and resources to community members with mental health needs\u2014and yet, Loughner had still slipped through the system\u2019s cracks. To ensure that others like him didn\u2019t do the same, TPD established the MHST, a specially trained unit focused exclusively on situations involving persons with mental illness. Established in 2013, the unit consists of one sergeant, two detectives, and seven field officers. Its objective is preventing public safety threats by proactively identifying people in mental health crises and connecting them with needed behavioral health services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMental health is such a big problem that you need to have a specialized team focusing on it,\u201d says MHST leader Sergeant Jason Winsky, who likens MHST to a dedicated DUI squad.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Any police officer in the United States is capable of giving a person a DUI. So why are there DUI squads? There are DUI squads because drunk driving is a community-wide problem, and it can really hurt people. The community recognizes that, so we deploy highly trained DUI officers to go out into the community and do DUI enforcement exclusively. Behavioral health deserves the same treatment.<\/em><sup>8<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>MHST has two primary functions, the first of which is to support and transport: MHST officers respond to calls for service involving individuals in crisis and also handle all involuntary commitment pickup orders.<\/p>\n<p>Sgt. Winsky says,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>In all 50 states, police departments are responsible for court-ordered pickups\u2014taking people to the hospital involuntarily; the vast majority of police departments serve these pickup orders completely at random. In Tucson, we\u2019ve taken a specialized group of police officers, given them an incredible amount of education and training, and made them the central access point for pickup orders.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This approach has yielded two principal benefits. \u201cWe weren\u2019t keeping data as an agency before, but we\u2019ve essentially eliminated use of force in pickup orders,\u201d continues Sgt. Winsky, who says the TPD has had only a single use of force during an involuntary commitment pickup since establishing MHST. \u201cThe other thing centralizing pickup orders has done for us is, it\u2019s allowed our officers to learn about the population. You tend to get the same people over and over again [for involuntary pickup calls], and my officers have established rapport with those people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That rapport is one of several key ingredients that help MHST officers build trust and de-escalate situations with individuals with mental illness. Other ingredients are officers\u2019 plainclothes and unmarked vehicles\u2014which reduce the stigma, anxiety, and embarrassment felt by individuals during police encounters\u2014and officers\u2019 training, which includes eight hours of mental health first aid training at the recruit level, 40 hours of crisis intervention training as an elective, and a 10-hour advanced refresher crisis intervention training course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou might spend four hours training an officer how to put someone in jail, but we spend the exact same amount of time training officers how to\u00a0not\u00a0put that same person in jail,\u201d notes Sgt. Winsky, who says MHST manages mental health training for all TPD officers.<\/p>\n<p>Although approximately 65 percent of its police force is trained in crisis intervention, what makes TPD\u2019s training effective isn\u2019t the\u00a0<em>quantity\u00a0<\/em>of officers who complete it, but the\u00a0<em>quality\u00a0<\/em>of training those officers receive. Sgt. Winsky observes that who teaches the course contributes to its effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>A lot of law enforcement trainings around the country are just cops teaching cops. Here, over 80 percent of our 40-hour course is taught by people who are not police officers; it\u2019s taught by psychiatrists, professors, judges, clinicians, mobile teams, behavioral health professionals, social workers, and lawyers.\u2026 We even bring in the consumers of the system and their family members to talk about their experience with the system. It\u2019s very hands-on.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Also \u201chands-on\u201d are the detectives who constitute MHST\u2019s second primary function: investigation. To stop mental health issues from escalating into public safety threats, these specialized detectives review more than 8,000 cases a year, looking for at-risk individuals who need to be connected or re-connected to the behavioral health system. On criminal cases, they work with the mental health and criminal justice systems to determine a case outcome that will meet the needs of both the individual and the public. With noncriminal cases\u2014including \u201cnuisance\u201d complaints such as vagrancy, suspicious activity, and public disturbance\u2014they look for evidence of mental illness and, when applicable, coordinate interventions with appropriate behavioral health system partners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolice departments around the country have burglary detectives and domestic violence detectives, but they don\u2019t have suspicious activity detectives. We do,\u201d states Sgt. Winsky, who says patrol officers refer all cases in which there is an individual who wasn\u2019t arrested but who nonetheless needs additional scrutiny to MHST. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for that needle in a haystack\u2014that person who is escalating slowly over time and building up to doing something really, really bad, but maybe hasn\u2019t committed a crime yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Helping detectives find the \u201cneedle in a haystack\u201d are behavioral health system partners with whom MHST has built close and collaborative relationships. One such partner, for example, is Tucson\u2019s Crisis Response Center (CRC), a public psychiatric hospital that was opened in 2011 as an alternative to jail for individuals in mental health crises.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sgt. Winsky, having a place like the CRC is key to TPD\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>We take thousands of people there every year instead of jail. We work with them very strategically to determine if there are people going to the CRC over and over again whose needs aren\u2019t being met. We\u2019ve also become part of their discharge planning; if they\u2019re discharging someone and they think that person needs a home visit, they\u2019ll call us, and my team will go check on them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The results speak for themselves, ac-cording to Sgt. Winsky:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>About two-thirds of law enforcement drop-offs to the psychiatric hospital here in Tucson are voluntary. That tells us two very important things. One, we have a real alternative to jail here, and we\u2019re thankful to have that. Two, our officers here know how to sell that service to people who need it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The final outcome\u2014averted crises\u2014benefits the individuals receiving help or treatment, police officers, and the public at large. \u201cEveryone is safer when the MHST team responds,\u201d Sgt. Winsky concludes.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #568f56;\"><strong>Considerations for Improving Response to those in Mental Health Crisis<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Based on information gathered from the\u00a0<em>Final Report of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing<\/em>; the resource from the IACP, CNA, and U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office),\u00a0<em>Advancing the 21st Century\u00a0Policing Initiative<\/em>; and IACP\u2019s One Mind Campaign, the following considerations can help law enforcement agencies develop strategies for addressing the needs of those in mental health crises, as well as the needs of other vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consideration 1:<\/strong> Embrace alternatives to arrest.\u00a0Criminal arrest and prosecution are appropriate remedies for criminal acts. For minor offenses and noncriminal behavior, however, book-and-release tactics can be expensive, ineffective, and unjust, perpetuating and exacerbating challenges in vulnerable populations instead of resolving them. Law enforcement agencies should empower police officers and deputies in those circumstances to use alternative remedies such as drug and alcohol treatment, hospitalization, and other diversionary programs, when appropriate, as these outlets can simultaneously help individuals, save money, and reduce recidivism.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consideration 2:<\/strong> Assign dedicated resources to community problems.\u00a0The problems faced by vulnerable populations are numerous and complex. Casual and haphazard approaches are therefore insufficient and ineffective. Instead of using \u201cBand-Aid\u201d solutions that offer temporary relief, law enforcement agencies need sustainable solutions that facilitate long-term gains through incremental progress. Such gains are possible only when agencies devote dedicated time and resources to the problems and populations that need them, building personal relationships that over time yield the trust, appreciation, and respect that law enforcement agencies require to be effective in the communities they serve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consideration 3:<\/strong> Appoint passionate\u00a0police personnel.\u00a0Because their job requires them to regularly confront their communities\u2019 worst attributes, remedies to which can seem evasive, police officers are understandably prone to cynicism. To positively impact vulnerable populations, law enforcement agencies need to entrust their progressive policing programs to officers and leaders who are capable of creating change by virtue of believing that change is possible. Such individuals are well-positioned to channel intangible passion and positivity into tangible outcomes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consideration 4:<\/strong> Take a community-focused approach to working with vulnerable populations.\u00a0For law enforcement agencies, success hinges on engagement, and engagement, on trust. Unfortunately, a history of negative perceptions and interactions with the police has made many vulnerable populations skeptical of law enforcement. In this context, law enforcement uniforms can sometimes be a distracting factor for officers seeking inroads with at-risk individuals and communities. When appropriate, wearing soft uniforms and driving unmarked patrol cars can help law enforcement officers transcend police stereotypes and ingratiate themselves with populations that may historically have seen police as a threat instead of an asset.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consideration 5:<\/strong> Use crisis intervention training to improve policing outcomes for\u00a0citizens, police officers, and communities.\u00a0Crisis intervention training for first responders promotes community partnerships, de-escalation techniques, and prearrest jail diversion for citizens experiencing a mental health crisis. Using crisis intervention strategies to police vulnerable populations not only promotes a more humane police culture, but also improves policing outcomes for both community members and police officers, whose safety is compromised when situations escalate toward use of force.<\/p>\n<p>Policing in vulnerable populations is\u00a0inherently challenging. Although law enforcement\u2019s mission\u2014to serve and<br \/>\nprotect\u2014is the same in vulnerable communities as it is in society at large, the circumstances under which this mission must be executed can be dramatically different. In particular, people affected by mental illness, addiction, and homelessness have distinctive needs and characteristics that raise the stakes of police encounters by imposing extra demands on law enforcement, as well as extra risks. Responding to such individuals in a way that is safe for all stakeholders requires police officers to assume new responsibilities outside the bounds of traditional law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, police officers increasingly find themselves sharing duties with social workers, community organizers, and other advocates. Although their newfound roles can require law enforcement officers to balance new obligations, these expanded roles also can introduce officers to new opportunities for making positive impacts in the communities they serve. The result\u2014material progress toward solving deeply rooted social problems\u2014can simultaneously improve citizens\u2019 lives, reduce recidivism, decrease crime, and remind police officers why they entered law enforcement in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>As guardians of their communities, it is law enforcement\u2019s responsibility to improve life and enhance public safety for all their neighbors. By working with community partners and stakeholders, law enforcement can develop strategies that accomplish both.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/statistics\/prevalence\/any-mental-illness-ami-among-us-adults.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Any Mental Illness (AMI) Among U.S. Adults<\/a>\u201d; NIMH, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/statistics\/prevalence\/serious-mental-illness-smi-among-us-adults.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Among U.S. Adults<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>2<\/sup>IACP National Law Enforcement Policy Center,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theiacp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2018-08\/MentalIllnessPaper2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Responding to Persons Affected by Mental Illness or in Crisis<\/em><\/a> (Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2014), 2.<\/p>\n<p><sup>3<\/sup>IACP,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theiacp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2018-08\/ImprovingPoliceResponsetoPersonswithMentalIllnessSymposiumReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Improving Police Response to Persons Affected by Mental Illness<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2016): 6.<\/p>\n<p><sup>4<\/sup>Amy C. Watson et al., \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2655327\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Improving Police Response to Persons with Mental Illness: A Multi-Level Conceptualization of CIT<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>International Journal of Law and Psychiatry<\/em>\u00a031, no. 4 (July 2008): 359\u2013368.<\/p>\n<p><sup>5<\/sup>IACP,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theiacp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2018-08\/ImprovingPoliceResponsetoPersonswithMentalIllnessSymposiumReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Improving Police Response to Persons Affected by Mental Illness<\/em><\/a>, 2.<\/p>\n<p><sup>6<\/sup>Ibid., 23.<\/p>\n<p><sup>7<\/sup>Sarah Netter, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/tucson-shooter-jared-loughner-stopped-alleged-gunman\/story?id=12591246\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tucson Shooter Jared Loughner: Could Anything Have Stopped Alleged Gunman<\/a>?\u201d ABC News, January 11, 2011.<\/p>\n<p><sup>8<\/sup>All statements by Sergeant Jason Winsky were taken from an interview with Matt Alderton in May 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #dfecdf;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>This article features one of several case studies that will appear in the forthcoming,\u00a0<em>Turning Pillars into Practice: Policing in Vulnerable Populations Guidebook<\/em>, which is part of the Advancing 21st Century Policing Initiative supported by IACP and the COPS Office. See the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theIACP.org\/icpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IACP Institute for Community-Police Relations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This project was supported by co-operative agreement number 2016-CKWXK-018, awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Please cite as<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Chris Magnus and Jason Winsky, \u201cSupporting Those\u00a0With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach\u00a0to a Vulnerable Population,\u201d <em>The Police Chief<\/em> (December 2017): 68\u201370.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The communities in which police officers work encompass a multitude of individuals with different ages, genders, incomes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, abilities, health statuses, and occupations. Because of these numerous differences among community members, policing is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. While law enforcement officers have an obligation to serve and protect all people equally, how they accomplish this mission depends on a variety of contextual factors that can change dramatically and dynamically, not only from day to day, but also from call to call. The most effective officers, therefore, are those who are trained to read all varieties of people, situations, and circumstances and to adapt accordingly. Adaptive approaches are especially important for policing vulnerable populations, including people who are elderly, people experiencing homelessness, or people with disabilities, substance abuse issues, or physical or mental illnesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,140],"tags":[212,209,213],"class_list":["post-39058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-police-engagement","category-mental-health","tag-diversion","tag-mental-illness","tag-services"],"acf":{"post_author":"Chris Magnus, Chief, and Jason Winsky, Sergeant, Tucson, Arizona, Police Department","main_category":"Mental Health","legacy_article_id":"","legacy_issue_id":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.4 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population - Police Chief Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The communities in which police officers work encompass a multitude of individuals with different ages, genders, incomes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, abilities, health statuses, and occupations. 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Adaptive approaches are especially important for policing vulnerable populations, including people who are elderly, people experiencing homelessness, or people with disabilities, substance abuse issues, or physical or mental illnesses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Police Chief Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T05:01:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-01T12:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/mental.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"804\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margaret White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret White\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/#\/schema\/person\/51da39bf2b152cf9aff96cdeed62d5a4\"},\"headline\":\"Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T05:01:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-01T12:45:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\"},\"wordCount\":2799,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/mental.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"diversion\",\"mental illness\",\"services\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community-Police Engagement\",\"Mental Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/supporting-mental-illness-rethinking-approach-vulnerable-population\/\",\"name\":\"Supporting Those With Mental Illness: Rethinking the Approach to a Vulnerable Population - 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