NCJ Number
203379
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 72 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 14-18
Date Published
November 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Tulsa Police Department’s (TPD) police officer training for responding to persons with mental illness.
Abstract
Recognizing a growing need to effectively and efficiently respond to the needs of mentally ill citizens, the TPD developed an advanced mental health response officer school in which police personnel and mental health professionals work in a collaborative partnership. The TPD drew on its “operational triangle” model of instruction as the guiding principle for the design of the mental health response officer school. The base of the operational triangle is safety and it is stressed that safety is the first step in all interactions between citizens and police officers. After establishing safety, officers are instructed not to move directly to problem solving, which is the top of the operational triangle, but to first engage in interpersonal communication in order to build a relationship with the citizen. This interpersonal communication step incorporates the middle of the operational triangle. The article describes the 40-hour, 5-day curriculum that limits class size to 20 police officers and 5 mental health professionals. The training curriculum for each of the 5 days is discussed and includes an emphasis on active listening skills, advanced verbal concepts, nonverbal communication components, interpersonal communication skills, psychotropic medications, common mental health disorders, violence and threat assessment, and suicide intervention techniques. Two main factors are credited with the success of the advanced mental health response officer school: the inclusion of mental health professionals as students and instructors and the value placed on how to intervene with individuals with mental health problems. Contact information is provided for the TPD. Endnotes