Mental Illness: De-institutionalization & Police Response

• Any Mental Illness (AMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder, varying in impact.
• Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder causing serious functional impairment, substantially interfering with major life activities.

De-institutionalization

• In 1963, the Community Mental Health Act (CMHA) was signed into law.
• Prior to this act, 600,000 individuals were institutionalized for psychological disorders.
• Psychiatrists cautioned that community models require addressing social problems like poor socialization, lack of housing, food, and clothing, which exacerbate mental illness.

Police Response to Mental Health Crises

• Intentional police responses to mental health crises generally fall into three types: police-based specialized response, police-based specialized mental health response, and mental-health-based specialized mental health response.

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)

• CIT started in Memphis, TN, after a 1987 shooting, aiming to reduce lethality during police encounters with individuals with mental health and substance abuse disorders and divert them from the criminal justice system to the civil treatment system.
• CIT key components include 40-hour training conducted by mental health workers, affected individuals, advocates, and police.
• Includes training and coding for calls for 911 personnel.
• Includes a mental health treatment facility with an automatic acceptance policy.

CIT Outcomes

• Despite the lack of evidence for effectiveness in reducing lethality, CIT has shown positive effects, mainly in officer-level outcomes, including officer satisfaction and self-perception of reduced use of force.
• There is evidence of increased aversion to psychiatric services overall.
• Police are uniquely exposed to graver interpersonal violence and negative perceptions, compared with other first responders.

Officer Wellness

• Repeated trauma exposure in police is associated with an increased risk of developing mental health problems, representing a substantial public health concern.
• Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in police exceeds twice that of the general population (20% vs 7%).
• Prevalence of mental health problems among police often exceeds twice that reported by the general population.
• General Strain Theory suggests repeated negative experiences in the absence of occupational rewards intensify the strain of smaller police stressors.
• GST includes the inability to achieve positively-valued goals, the removal of (or threat to remove) positively valued stimuli, and the presence of (or threat to present) noxious stimuli.
• Organizational risk factors play a central role in the development of mental health problems in police, exceeding the job.
• Higher levels of peer support were associated with significantly lower PTSD syndrome.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• PTSD may result when an individual lives through or witnesses an event in which they believe that there is a threat to life or physical integrity and safety. Symptoms: re-experiencing the trauma, avoidance of activities or places that recall the event, as well as "numbing" and disinterest in social activities.
• Per DSM V, PTSD occurs via directly experiencing traumatic events, witnessing the events in person as they occurred to others, learning that the traumatic events occurred to a close family member or close friend.
• Happens through, experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting human remains; police officers repeatedly.

Hypervigilance

• Hypervigilance, a state of heightened awareness and watchfulness, is a consequence of violence that has been linked to adverse psychosocial outcomes.

Bias

• Common tests for discrimination: the benchmark test and the outcome (hit-rate) test.
• The benchmark test compares the frequency of contact with police by race (or other factor suggesting discrimination).
• The outcome (hit-rate) test is the rate of finding contraband, conditional on a search being done, compared by race (or other factors suggesting discrimination).
• Researchers of bias are engaged in identifying the non-cases who are still at risk
• *Risk Set
• The denominator that is chosen must accurately reflect the appropriate risk set.
• If the appropriate risk set is unknown, the chosen denominator reflects assumptions about police actions, not necessarily what they are actually doing.

Simpson's Paradox

• The possibility of a pattern exhibited by aggregate data either disappearing or reversing once the data is disaggregated.
• Simpson's paradox is asking to be more humanized when looking at data.

Moving Forward

• Explicit police departments strategies
• Better data
• Better research methods

Funding

• Key terms and concepts: abolitionist "defund" perspective, upstream "defund" perspective, evidence-based policing, Bayley's "dishonest" and "honest law enforcement" conceptualization of missions.
• Jonathan Simon argues that, as new governance needs arise, actors, organizations, and communities increasingly look to law enforcement to meet those needs across a diverse array of institutional settings.
• Consistent evidence suggests growing housing market reliance played a modest though not insignificant role in the persistent growth of police budgets.
• Local policing grew partly as a compensatory response to the weakening capacity of local social service programs.
• Significant divesting of policing and policing initiatives and a reallocation of public funds towards ‘upstream’ social work or public health approaches
• What moving resources "upstream" looks like

Honest vs Dishonest Law Enforcement

• Dishonest: societally, we have been dishonest in affirming that police alone are a sufficient solution to preventing crime.
• Honest: narrowly define what is wanted from police, and divert everything else to other service providers; fight "mission creep."
• Society has laid this expectation that you do not say no to any police call.
• Evidence-based policing explicitly calls for police practices to be "based on scientific evidence about what works best."
• Research is made integral; in developing police practices.
• Scholarship is rigorous and useful.
• Findings are effortlessly "implement-able."

Use of Force

• Graham v Connor
• Tennessee v Garner
• Deadly force (or lethal force)
• Coercive force
• Suicide by cop
• Objective reasonableness standard
• Qualified immunity

Graham v. Connor

• Force is a 4th amendment issue, as per Tennessee v Garner.
• "Objective reasonableness" is the standard, without 20/20 hindsight, considering the severity of the crime, immediate threat to the safety of police or others, and resisting arrest or attempting to flee.

Exclusionary Rule

• Evidence collected in violation of a defendant's constitutional rights is inadmissible in a criminal prosecution.
• Weeks v. United States (1914): exclusionary rule applied to the federal government.
• Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. US (1920): fruit of the poisonous tree.
• Wolf v. colorado (1949): applies fourth amendment to the states.
• Elkins v. United States (1960): silver platter doctrine.
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961): applies exclusionary rule to the states.
• Utah v. Strieff (2016)

Methods to Deter Police Misconduct

• Civil suits (USC 1983, Bivens).
• Administrative sanction by department.
• Negative publicity.
• Criminal prosecution.
• Requiring police reports.
• Statistics on stops, arrests, prosecutions.
• Departmental “rulemaking” as a tool for framing police discretion.

Collins v. Virginia (2018)

• The Court ruled 8-1 in favor of the defendant, Collins, holding that the warrantless search violated the Fourth Amendment.
• The key issue was that the police had no warrant, and the vehicle exception (which allows searches of vehicles in certain situations) did not apply here.
• The motorcycle was parked in a private driveway, and thus, the area was considered protected under the Fourth Amendment.

Justifications for the Exclusionary Rule:

• Constitutional right – it is part of the constitutional rights against unreasonable seizure and coerced confessions.
• Judicial integrity – it preserves the honor and honesty of the courts.
• Deterrence – deters police misconduct.

Other Terms

• Collateral use: can be used in hearings other than the main case.
• Independent source: murray v. united states 1988 – agents entered a warehouse and saw marijuana.
• They kept the warehouse under surveillance.
• Inevitable discovery: Nix v. Williams.
• Biggest exception is GOOD FAITH – if the officers are acting in good faith than there is no violation.

Graham v. Connor (Revisited)

• Force is a 4th amendment issue, as per Tennessee v. Garner.
• "Objective Reasonableness" is the standard, without 20/20 hindsight, considering the severity of the crime, immediate threat to the safety of police or others, and resisting arrest or attempting to flee.
• "Within a democratic republic, and for the purpose of pursuing public safety, the police are vested with enormous power to stop, search, arrest, and use coercive force."
• Force, or the threat of force, utilized to compel an individual to obey a legal command.
• Lethal force may be used when there is probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others.

Police Use of Force

• Criticisms of Graham v. Connor: it makes it unnecessarily difficult for plaintiffs to overcome qualified immunity, it stymies the development of excessive-force law, the reasonableness factors listen in Graham are not specific enough, and it makes dubious factual commitments about the nature and damingness of policing.
• The most common subject of police shootings tend to be men, those with a history of mental illness, and Whites.
• Blacks and Hispanics have been found to be over-represented.
• Between 33 and 57% of officer-involved shootings may be "suicide by cop."
• Officer-involved deaths appear to occur at a rate of 1.3-1.6 per million.
• 96% of police reported drawing their firearm at least once a year, 20% reported being involved in a shooting, and 70% reported being involved in at least one incident in which they were legally justified to fire their weapon but chose not to.

Qualified Immunity

• Law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity when their actions do not violate a clearly established statutory or constitutional right.
• The objective reasonableness test determines the entitlement.
• The officer is judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the vision of 20/20 hindsight.
• It protects the officer in an individual capacity, and not the governmental entity employing the officer.
• Judicial doctrine created by the Supreme Court that shields state actors from liability for their misconduct unless they violated “clearly established law."
• Requires a prior case with functionally identical facts.
• Organizational model requires officers to address social welfare problems
• Model fails to provide with training and equipment needed

Reform Options for Police Organizations

• Exit the social welfare field
• Collaborate with non-policing agencies
• Specialize within LE agencies
• Civilianize roles within agencies

Transparency and Accountability Key Questions

• What information does the public expect police to share?
• What can or should be kept "secret"?
• Are pattern or practice investigations effective?
• What impact do consent decrees have on police departments and communities?
• What impact does police transparency have?
• What impact does agency leadership have on accountability and transparency?

Transparency/Accountability Terms

• Pattern or practice program

• Consent decree

• Memorandum of agreement

• Technical assistance letter

• 42 USC 1983

• 42 USC 14141

• Open records

• Most members of law enforcement operate today in a culture of near-zero accountability.

• Police officers rarely face meaningful consequences for their misconduct.

Pattern or Practice Investigations/Litigation

• Begun in 1994 pursuant to 42 USC 14141 and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.
• The program was started because "piecemeal police reform was not adequate."
• Between 1994-2017, 69 investigations were conducted, with 40 settlements and 20 consent decrees.
• Consent decrees are generally seen to be effective.
• It is illegal for government “to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers… that deprives persons of the rights, privileges or immunities secured and protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States”
• See also 42 USC 1983 – violation of rights under color of law

Pattern or Practice Investigation Criteria

• Whether a department exhibited issues common to many departments (historic problematic patterns);
• Whether a department exhibited emerging or developing issues in policing (problems with new issues); and
• Whether a department exhibited suitable subjects for impact litigation, which would highlight a special problem in law enforcement.
• Investigation creates a "findings letter" from CR DOJ.
• The US Department of Justice's pattern-or-practice program has been an unprecedented event in the history of American policing, intervening in local and state law enforcement agencies as never before and advancing a comprehensive agenda of reforms unmatched in history…
• Potential impacts of transparency include signaling a healthy democracy, promoting dialogue and increasing participation, enhancing accountability, and increasing trust.

Pattern or Practice Investigation Settlements

• Consent decree - Formal settlement agreements between the US Department of Justice and local authorities overseen by a local US district court judge.
• Memorandum of agreement - A less formal agreement than a consent decree. It may not require court oversight, but it still establishes a set of reforms that the police department agrees to implement.
• Technical assistance letter - A guidance letter from the DOJ that provides recommendations or suggestions for reforms, rather than requiring a binding agreement.
• The pattern-or-practice program has made a notable contribution to American policing by establishing a comprehensive reform agenda, one that envisions transforming police organizations such that they can deliver police services that are lawful, professional, and respectful of the people they serve.

"Handcuffed: What Holds Policing Back, and the Keys to Reform" by Malcolm Sparrow: Chapters 3-7

Chapter 3: The Craft of Policing

• Policing as a Craft: Sparrow distinguishes between procedural policing (following protocols) and skillful problem-solving approaches
• Problem-oriented Policing: Introduced by Herman Goldstein as an alternative to the standard model
• Limitations of Reactive Policing: Traditional police work is primarily reactive rather than proactive
• Risk-based Regulation: The need for police to identify and address specific community risks
• Police work requires both procedural knowledge and adaptive problem-solving skills
• The "standard model" focuses too narrowly on law enforcement rather than harm reduction
• Innovative approaches often face resistance from traditional policing institutions
• Effective policing requires flexibility to address local contexts and specific community needs
• Performance measurement should focus on outcomes (risk reduction) rather than outputs (arrests, citations)

Chapter 4: COMPSTAT and Its Progeny

• COMPSTAT: Data-driven management system for police departments first implemented in New York City
• Performance Management: How metrics and goals shape police behavior
• Geographical Accountability: Holding commanders responsible for crime rates in their areas
• Unintended Consequences: How performance metrics can distort police priorities
• COMPSTAT revolutionized police management through data analysis and accountability
• The system helped dramatically reduce crime rates in New York City in the 1990s
• COMPSTAT meetings created pressure on commanders to show crime reductions
• Critics argue COMPSTAT can lead to statistical manipulation and misreporting
• The focus on crime statistics can undermine community trust and problem-solving

Chapter 5: Community Policing and Its Progeny

• Community Policing Philosophy: Building partnerships between police and communities
• Community Engagement: Strategies for involving citizens in public safety
• Community Relations vs. Community Policing: Distinguishing between superficial outreach and substantive partnership
• Implementation Challenges: Why community policing often fails to achieve lasting change Community policing emerged as a reform strategy in the 1980s and 1990s
• True community policing requires organizational transformation, not just public relations
• Many departments implemented community policing superficially without changing core operations
• Effective community policing integrates with problem-solving approaches
• Community input should inform priorities and strategies, not just serve as window dressing

Chapter 6: The Reform Agenda

• Policing Crisis: Recent controversies and the crisis of legitimacy
• Procedural Justice: The importance of fair processes and respectful treatment
• Transparency and Accountability: Mechanisms for oversight and building trust
• Use of Force Policies: Reforms to reduce unnecessary force
• High-profile incidents have created a crisis of legitimacy for American policing
• Procedural justice emphasizes how police interact with citizens, not just outcomes
• Body cameras and other technologies offer new forms of transparency
• De-escalation training aims to reduce violent confrontations
• Implicit bias training addresses unconscious prejudices in police decision-making

Chapter 7: Recommendations and Prospects

• Balanced Approach: Integrating crime control with community trust-building
• Organizational Learning: Creating adaptable police organizations
• Professional Development: Training officers in both technical and adaptive skills
• Harm Reduction Focus: Shifting from arrest metrics to harm prevention
• Effective reform requires balancing multiple policing dimensions
• Police education should emphasize problem-solving methodologies
• Leadership development should focus on adaptive challenges
• External oversight must be coupled with internal accountability
• Success should be measured by reduction of specific harms, not just crime statistics

Pattern or Practice Investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice

• Investigations are into police agencies where there are allegations of widespread misconduct or systemic issues—known as "patterns or practices"—that violate citizens' constitutional rights.
• The goal of this program is to identify these systemic issues and encourage reforms to bring law enforcement agencies in line with constitutional standards.

Types of Agreements or Settlements When the DOJ Finds Evidence of Such Patterns or Practices

• Consent Decree - This is the most formal and binding agreement, often involving detailed, court-monitored reforms.
• Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) - An MOA is a less formal agreement than a consent decree. It may not require court oversight, but it still establishes a reform set that the police department agrees to implement.
• Technical Assistance Letter (TAL) - TAL is the least formal of the three. It’s more of a guidance letter from the DOJ that provides recommendations or suggestions for reforms, rather than requiring a binding agreement.
• The Pattern-or-Practice Program has been a landmark initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to address systemic issues in law enforcement.

Impact of the Program

• Unprecedented intervention Historically, the DOJ rarely intervened in local police matters. The Pattern-or-Practice Program marked a shift toward federal involvement in addressing police misconduct on a large scale.
• Comprehensive reform agenda: The program aims to transform law enforcement agencies by ensuring they operate within constitutional and human rights standards.
• A comprehensive reform vision: The overarching goal of the Pattern-or-Practice Program is to reform police departments so that they are more accountable to the communities they serve.

Challenges and Questions That Remain

• Effectiveness and sustainability of reforms: Even though police departments may agree to reforms under a consent decree or MOA, there are concerns about whether these changes are implemented thoroughly and consistently over time.
• Resistance to change: Some police unions, officers, and political groups may resist reforms, particularly those that require significant shifts in culture, training, or accountability.
• Ongoing monitoring and accountability: Ensuring that police agencies adhere to the terms of consent decrees and other agreements requires continuous oversight

The Concept of "Defunding" the Police

• "Abolishing the police department in terms of funding" typically refers to a policy approach that involves redirecting funding from traditional policing to alternative public safety services and community resources.
• Complete defunding involves removing all financial resources from police departments.
• Significant reallocation means drastically reducing police budgets and redirecting those funds to other services, while budget reprioritization means shifting money from militarized equipment and certain police functions toward alternative response systems.
• Instead, money for mental health services, social services, and community-led safety initiatives and preventative measures can be used.
• Some cities have created non-police emergency response teams for mental health crises, moved traffic enforcement to unarmed civilian departments, and invested in community violence prevention programs.
• The concept remains controversial, with advocates arguing that it addresses systemic issues by investing in root causes of crime, while critics express concerns about public safety and response capabilities for violent situations.