In Frontiers in Psychiatry, two psychiatrists from the University of Alberta critically discuss training programs for police officers in dealing with people who are experiencing psychological crises.
One common mistake, the authors write, is to focus on trying to change police officers’ attitudes about mental illness, while it is more effective to focus not on their attitudes but on their behaviors towards people in crises.
Krameddine, Yasmeen I., and Peter H. Silverstone. āHow to Improve Interactions between Police and the Mentally Ill.ā Frontiers in Psychiatry 5 (2015): 186. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00186. (Full text)