ABSTRACT
For many decades the police have been the de facto responders to persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI). However, having the police in this role has come with negative repercussions for PwPMI, such as disproportionately experiencing criminalization and use of force. In recognizing these issues, the police-and more recently, the community-have developed responses that either seek to improve interactions between the police and PwPMI or remove the police from this role altogether. However, in either case, these efforts are reactivein nature, responding to crises that arguably could have been prevented had a timelier intervention taken place. Further, evidence on certain police responses to PwPMI, such as Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) and co-response teams, suggests that they endure deployment-related challenges, thus limiting their reach to PwPMI.Drawing from the Criminology of Place and existing place-based policing strategies, the present dissertation argues that efforts focused on respondingto PwPMI should instead be proactively deployed, targeting areas where interactions between police and PwPMI concentrate spatially. Doing so would not only result in efficient deployment of scarce resources but would permit police- and community-based efforts to have a greater reach to PwPMI and thus prevent future interactions with police. To-date, however, there have been few empirical and theoretical investigations into the spatial patterns of PwPMI calls for service that could inform such proactive, place-based efforts. Specifically, we do not currently understand: (1) the degree to which PwPMI calls for service concentrate within certain geographical contexts (such as a small city);(2) whether the degree of PwPMI call concentration and the location of these calls remain stable over time;and (3) what theoretical frameworks explain why PwPMI calls for service occur where they do. Drawing on seven years (2014-2020) of calls for service data from the Barrie Police Service and data from the 2016 Canadian Census, the present dissertation employs various methods of spatial analysis to fills these specific knowledge gaps.Although the theoretical investigation confirmed the findings of previous work that found no association between social disorganization theory and the spatial patterns of PwPMI calls for service, the present dissertation revealed: (1) PwPMI calls for service are highly concentrated within the context of a small city, even more so than what has previously been uncovered in larger jurisdictions;(2) the degree of PwPMI call concentration is stable over time, falling within a narrow proportional bandwidth of spatial units;and (3) PwPMI calls for service, and their concentrations, occur in the same places over time-even during the COVID-19 pandemic-and are thus spatially stable. As such, though more scholarship is needed on theories that might help explain why PwPMI calls occur where they do, the findings of the present dissertation strongly support the proactive, place-based deployment of resources to PwPMI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Research summary: Inspired by studies on crime concentration, scholars have begun examining the spatial patterns of other issues under the police mandate, such as calls for service involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI). While findings show that PwPMI calls for service concentrate in a few number of places, we do not know whether the concentration of these calls fall within a narrow bandwidth of spatial units nor whether these calls are spatially stable. Drawing on 7 years of calls for service data from the Barrie Police Service, this study tests for the temporal stability of PwPMI call for service concentrations at two units of spatial analysis and applies a longitudinal variation of the Spatial Point Pattern Test to assess the spatial stability of these calls at both the global and local levels. The results reveal that concentrations of PwPMI calls for service not only fall within a narrow proportional bandwidth of spatial units, but are spatially stable, even during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Policy implications: Existing police‐ and community‐based efforts that respond to PwPMI in the community are tasked with responding to crises that could have been prevented with timelier intervention. Drawing from crime‐focused, place‐based policing strategies whose deployment is informed by the spatial concentration of crime, scholars have similarly argued that knowledge on where PwPMI calls for service concentrate can be leveraged to inform and deploy place‐based efforts whose focus is to assist PwPMI in a proactive capacity. The findings of the present study further substantiates the deployment of PwPMI‐focused police‐ and community‐based resources as proactive, place‐based efforts. In doing so, these efforts could not only prevent mental health crises from occurring but could prevent future police‐involved calls for service and thus reduce the footprint of the police in the lives of PwPMI in a reactive capacity. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Criminology & Public Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
Research summary Policy implications Inspired by studies on crime concentration, scholars have begun examining the spatial patterns of other issues under the police mandate, such as calls for service involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI). While findings show that PwPMI calls for service concentrate in a few number of places, we do not know whether the concentration of these calls fall within a narrow bandwidth of spatial units nor whether these calls are spatially stable. Drawing on 7 years of calls for service data from the Barrie Police Service, this study tests for the temporal stability of PwPMI call for service concentrations at two units of spatial analysis and applies a longitudinal variation of the Spatial Point Pattern Test to assess the spatial stability of these calls at both the global and local levels. The results reveal that concentrations of PwPMI calls for service not only fall within a narrow proportional bandwidth of spatial units, but are spatially stable, even during the COVID‐19 pandemic.Existing police‐ and community‐based efforts that respond to PwPMI in the community are tasked with responding to crises that could have been prevented with timelier intervention. Drawing from crime‐focused, place‐based policing strategies whose deployment is informed by the spatial concentration of crime, scholars have similarly argued that knowledge on where PwPMI calls for service concentrate can be leveraged to inform and deploy place‐based efforts whose focus is to assist PwPMI in a proactive capacity. The findings of the present study further substantiates the deployment of PwPMI‐focused police‐ and community‐based resources as proactive, place‐based efforts. In doing so, these efforts could not only prevent mental health crises from occurring but could prevent future police‐involved calls for service and thus reduce the footprint of the police in the lives of PwPMI in a reactive capacity. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
Drawing upon seven years of police calls for service data (2014-2020), this study examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on calls involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI) using a Bayesian Structural Time Series. The findings revealed that PwPMI calls did not increase immediately after the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Instead, a sustained increase in PwPMI calls was identified in August 2020 that later became statistically significant in October 2020. Ultimately, the analysis revealed a 22% increase in PwPMI calls during the COVID-19 pandemic than would have been expected had the pandemic not taken place. The delayed effect of the pandemic on such calls points to a need for policymakers to prioritize widely accessible mental health care that can be deployed early during public health emergencies thus potentially mitigating or eliminating the need for increased police intervention, as was the case here. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40163-021-00157-6.