The United States 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals recently made a ruling on an officer's use of deadly force against a person suffering a mental disorder. The outcome of this case is extremely important for law enforcement officers not only in the U.S. 3rd Circuit, but across the nation. The U.S. 3rd Circuit has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the U.S. … [Read more...]
CIT—The Memphis Model
Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT, training is a model for first-responding law enforcement officers to more effectively deal with mentally ill persons, with the goal of improving safety for the officers, mental health consumers, family, and citizens. Developed in 1988 as a partnership between the Memphis, TN Police, the Memphis Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental … [Read more...]
Suicide Jumpers: An EDP Police Officers Must Train For
Police officers often respond to calls involving EDPs: Emotionally Disturbed Persons. Some of these EDPs are high on drugs, mentally ill, or severely depressed about some event in their life. Suicidal subjects are one of the types of EDP that we have to deal with. Often times a suicidal subject does not have any real intent to harm themselves; they are just looking for help … [Read more...]
Recognizing Emotionally Disturbed Persons
Emotionally Disturbed Persons, or EDPs, are common encounters for the street level police officer. EDPs fall into three general categories: chemical abusers, short term, and long term. Recognizing what category the EDP falls into may help you in how you deal with the subject. The first category is the chemical abuser. The folks in this category include your crack-heads, … [Read more...]