Purpose

Police officers are increasingly interacting with individuals with mental illnesses. Officers who encounter these persons have three choices: detain, arrest and transport to a correctional facility; resolve the situation informally; or initiate an involuntary psychiatric admission. The decision to place someone under an involuntary psychiatric admission is based on a variety of factors. This paper aims to collaborate with two metropolitan Police Departments in South Florida to explore individual and departmental factors that contribute to involuntary psychiatric admissions initiated by their officers.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation examined 1,625 police reports of involuntary psychiatric admissions in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Descriptive statistics for the entire sample were computed, and percentages of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)-trained officers for both departments in each year were determined.

Findings

Results highlighted differences in rates of involuntary commitments, CIT-trained officers and associated variables (e.g. mental health diagnoses, substance use) between the two cities.

Practical implications

Implications of the findings, and directions that future research in this area might take, are discussed.

Originality/value

There is a dearth of literature pertaining to involuntary psychiatric admissions in general and factors specific to involuntary psychiatric admissions initiated by police. This paper adds preliminary findings and implications to this body of research.

中文翻译：

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美国两个警察部门发起的非自愿精神病入院：描述性分析

目的

警察越来越多地与患有精神疾病的人互动。遇到这些人的官员有三种选择：拘留、逮捕和运送到惩教机构；非正式地解决问题；或开始非自愿的精神病入院。将某人置于非自愿精神病院的决定是基于多种因素。本文旨在与南佛罗里达州的两个大都会警察局合作，探讨导致其警官非自愿入院的个人和部门因素。

设计/方法/方法

这项调查检查了 2013、2014 和 2015 年 1,625 份非自愿精神病入院的警方报告。计算了整个样本的描述性统计数据，并确定了两个部门每年接受危机干预小组 (CIT) 培训的官员的百分比。

发现

结果突出了两个城市之间在非自愿承诺率、CIT 培训官员和相关变量（例如心理健康诊断、物质使用）方面的差异。

实际影响

讨论了研究结果的影响以及该领域未来研究可能采取的方向。

原创性/价值

缺乏关于一般非自愿精神病入院和警方发起的非自愿精神病入院的特定因素的文献。本文为该研究主体增加了初步发现和影响。