Wood Jennifer D, Watson Amy C, Fulambarker Anjali J
Department of Criminal Justice and Center for Security and Crime Science, Temple University.
Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Police Q. 2017 Mar;20(1):81-105. doi: 10.1177/1098611116658875. Epub 2016 Jul 13.
Although improving police responses to mental health crises has received significant policy attention, most encounters between police and persons with mental illnesses do not involve major crimes or violence, nor do they rise to the level of requiring emergency apprehension. Here, we report on field observations of police officers handling mental health-related encounters in Chicago. Findings confirm that these encounters often occur in the "gray zone", where the problems at hand do not call for formal or legalistic interventions including arrest and emergency apprehension. In examining how police resolved such situations, we observed three core features of police work: (1) accepting temporary solutions to chronic vulnerability; (2) using local knowledge to guide decision-making; and (3) negotiating peace with complainants and call subjects. Study findings imply the need to advance field-based studies using systematic social observations of gray zone decision-making within and across distinct geographic and place-based contexts. Policy implications for supporting police interventions, including place-based enhancements of gray zone resources, are also discussed.
尽管改善警方对心理健康危机的应对已受到政策的高度关注，但警方与精神病患者之间的大多数接触并不涉及重大犯罪或暴力行为，也未达到需要紧急逮捕的程度。在此，我们报告了对芝加哥警察处理与心理健康相关接触情况的实地观察结果。研究结果证实，这些接触往往发生在“灰色地带”，即手头的问题不需要包括逮捕和紧急逮捕在内的正式或法律干预措施。在研究警方如何解决此类情况时，我们观察到了警察工作的三个核心特征：（1）接受针对长期脆弱性的临时解决方案；（2）利用当地知识指导决策；（3）与投诉人和被呼叫对象协商达成和平。研究结果表明，有必要通过对不同地理和场所背景下灰色地带决策进行系统的社会观察来推进实地研究。还讨论了支持警方干预措施的政策影响，包括基于场所的灰色地带资源强化。
