Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:23:31.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Voluntary Registries: Filling the Critical Information Gap in First Response to Mental Health Crises

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2022

Brandon del Pozo  and
Michael T. Compton
Brandon del Pozo
Affiliation:
RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL AND BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, RI, USA
Michael T. Compton
Affiliation:
NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We argue that voluntary mental health registries integrated into the 9-1-1 system, where patients and caregivers can establish a repository of this information, will help fill this information gap by enabling first responders to quickly understand the context of a call for service with a mental health component, and to make better informed decisions. Despite valid concerns about privacy, stigma, and the potential misuse of protected health information, such registries, if carefully designed and administered, can improve the health outcomes of 9-1-1 calls for service involving mental health-related crises.

Keywords

PoliceFirst RespondersLaw EnforcementMental IllnessCrisis Response
Type
Independent Articles: Commentary
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 50 , Issue 2: Commercial Speech and Commercial Determinants of Health , Summer 2022 , pp. 364 - 367
Copyright
© 2022 The Author(s)

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Neusteter, S. R., Mapolski, M., Khogali, M., and O’Toole, M.,“The 911 Call Processing System: A Review of the Literature as It Relates to Policing,” The Vera Institute of Justice (2019), available at <http://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/911-call-processing-system-review-of-policing-literature.pdf > (last visited June 18, 2022.)+(last+visited+June+18,+2022.)>Google Scholar
Ross, H. M., Bowman, D. M., and Wani, J. M., “Voluntary Registries to Support Improved Interaction Between Police and People Living with Dementia,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 50, no. 2 (2022): 348–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, M. T., A Trial of a Police-Mental Health Linkage System for Jail Diversion and Reconnection to Care (Washington: National Institute of Mental Health, 2018).Google Scholar
del Pozo, B., Sightes, E., Goulka, J., Ray, B., Wood, C. A., Siddiqui, S., and Beletsky, L. A.. “Police Discretion in Encounters with People Who Use Drugs: Operationalizing the Theory of Planned Behavior,” Harm Reduction Journal 18, no. 1 (2021): 132, available at <https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00583-4> (last visited June 27, 2022).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CJIS Advisory Policy Board, Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy, CJISD-ITS-DOC-08140-5.8, Version 5.8 (June 1, 2019), available at <https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/cjis-security-policy_v5-8_20190601.pdf> (last visited June 18, 2022).+(last+visited+June+18,+2022).>Google Scholar
Herrmann, L. K., Welter, E., Leverenz, J., Lerner, A. J., Udelson, N., Kanetsky, C., and Sajatovic, M., “A Systematic Review of Dementia-Related Stigma Research: Can We Move the Stigma Dial?” The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 26, no. 3 (2018): 316–31, available at <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2017.09.006> (lat visited June 27, 2022).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
One of the authors (BdP) served as a New York City police commander frequently in charge of searches for missing elderly and other vulnerable populations. When the searches were in wooded areas, the use of aviation and infrared sensors was routine, as was the use of bloodhounds, and boats when a person went missing near the shoreline of a body of water. In the search for missing people with dementia, despite efforts to lessen the police response to mental and behavioral health crises, the equipment and techniques that make for a rapid and thorough search will continue to require police involvement.Google Scholar
Engel, R., Corsaro, N., Isaza, G. T., and McManus, H. D., Examining the Impact of Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (Icat) De-Escalation Training for the Louisville Metro Police Department: Initial Findings. (Washington, DC: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2020).Google Scholar
Compton, M. T., Krishan, S., Broussard, B., Bakeman, R., Fleischmann, M. H., Hankerson-Dyson, D., Husbands, L., et al. “Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand How Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training Facilitates Police Officers’ Mental Health Referrals,” Community Mental Health Journal (2021): doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00920-8.Google ScholarPubMed