Police Quarterly

Cooper, Virginia G.; Mclearen, Alix M.; Zapf, Patricia A.

doi: 10.1177/1098611104267733pmid: N/A

This study was designed to explore police decision making in arresting or committing mentally ill individuals; it has a special focus on racial bias. Ninety-two officers from a medium-sized police department completed a questionnaire about attitudes toward working with mentally ill individuals and responded to a vignette by indicating a dispositional decision. Results highlighted the officers’frustration in handling mentally ill offenders and the lack of coordination in effort between police and mental health professionals. Race was not a major factor in dispositional decision making, but a racial bias was found in commitment decisions, with Caucasian suspects being more likely to be involuntarily hospitalized.

Kaminski, Robert J.; Digiovanni, Clete; Downs, Raymond

doi: 10.1177/1098611103253456pmid: N/A

This article examines the effects of perceived impaired judgment due to mental illness, drugs, or alcohol among a sample of arrestees on police use of force and other outcomes. Using a combined measure of impairment, bivariate analysis of more than 2,000 arrests made by officers from a large southeastern municipal police department suggests that persons with perceived impaired judgment were only mildly problematic for police in this study. Multiple regression analysis of the effects of perceived judgmental impairment on use of force indicates it significantly increased the odds that higher levels of force were used, but the influence of this factor was less than the influence of other factors commonly examined in use-of-force studies. Additional analysis using a disaggregated measure of perceived impaired judgment reveals that the significant effect of the combined measure is a function of suspected drug intoxication rather than suspected alcohol intoxication or mental illness.

King, William R.; Dunn, Thomas M.

doi: 10.1177/1098611102250586pmid: N/A

Those who write about the police have generally neglected the informal ways police officers handle situations involving troublesome persons. Troublesome persons, including homeless and mentally disturbed people, prostitutes, juveniles, and people under the influence of alcohol or drugs, are not necessarily best handled by arrest. In fact the recent move by many police agencies to handle situations with either aggressive order maintenance or community policing may encourage officers to handle troublesome persons via informal methods. This article focuses on one such informal method: police-initiated transjurisdictional transport (PITT) of troublesome persons, or dumping. This article describes PITT, explores the literature for examples of it, describes some of its possible causes, and proposes three ways to control PITT. We conclude with four research strategies for studying police dumping of troublesome persons.

Ruiz, Jim; Miller, Chad

doi: 10.1177/1098611103258957pmid: N/A

U.S. police agencies have been given the obligation of responding to calls for service involving persons with mental illness. However, they have not been given the education and training necessary to manage this responsibility. Moreover, departments lack written policies and procedures for management of persons with mental illness. The lack of education, training, policies, and procedures has a tendency to cause line officers to respond improperly. Instead of approaching the call as a person with an illness, oftentimes police officers will approach as though the patient is a dangerous felon. Such perceptions have a tendency to lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy when injury or death may occur to the patient, police officers, or both. This article summarizes self-report surveys of a cross-section of Pennsylvania police departments regarding perceptions of dangerousness, injuries to police and patient, policies and procedures, and belief in their ability to manage persons with mental illness.

Fritsch, Eric J.; Caeti, Tory J.; Tobolowsky, Peggy M.; Taylor, Robert W.

doi: 10.1177/1098611103257691pmid: N/A

Victim compensation funds are designed to aid people in recovering financially from criminal victimization. Somewhat surprisingly, the victim compensation fund in Texas currently has a large cash surplus and is underutilized. Police officers in Texas are responsible for providing victims information about compensation. A survey was distributed to police officers in Texas to determine their knowledge about the fund as well as factors that inhibit or predict referrals of victims to the crime victim fund. Results show that knowledge of the compensation fund, source of that knowledge, department size, college education, and perceptions of time constraints, victims, support for advising, and capability of victim liaison are all predictive of referrals. Implications of these findings and suggestions for increasing the referral rate are discussed.