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Police-related mental health triage

Posted on 18 June 2019

Police services increasingly receive emergency calls involving people with perceived mental ill health where no crime has been committed. Police officers have to then make decisions about how best to resolve such incidents. The York Evidence Synthesis Centre at CRD has recently published a rapid synthesis of evidence on triage interventions aimed at these types of situation.

Most interventions involved police officers working in partnership with mental health professionals, and were generally valued by staff and showed some positive effects on procedures (such as rates of detention) and resources. However, results were not entirely consistent and not all important outcomes were measured. Complete findings and recommendations can be found in the full report.