Seattle Police Department and mental health crises: Arrest, emergency detention, and referral to services

Abstract

PurposeThis study sought to understand how officer, individual, and incident-level characteristics influence officer decisions to arrest, detain in emergencies, and refer individuals to services relative to taking no action in encounters with persons in mental health crises. This study allowed for the analysis of informal, scarcely examined outcomes. MethodsWe examined all available crisis incidents (n = 19,648) over a three-year period from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) using a large administrative dataset. We conducted a multinomial logistic regression. ResultsWe found that arrest was the least frequent outcome followed by no action, referral to services, and emergency detention. Further, arrests occurred primarily in the context of person and property-related crimes as well as when officers perceived individuals as belligerent and disruptive. Emergency detention was significantly more likely when officers perceived a suicide risk than when they did not. ConclusionsLargely, in the absence of a criminal offense, police officers utilized less restrictive resolutions and in many cases officers attempted to connect individuals to mental health services either through immediate emergency detention or referrals to services. Majority of crisis incidents did not involve an offense and may be better resolved by mental health professionals.