POLICE DISCRETION AND ENCOUNTERS WITH PEOPLE EXPERIENCING MENTAL ILLNESS The Significant Factors

Police discretion as it applies to encounters with people experiencing mental illness has far-reaching implications. In this study, some of the factors that are related to police officers ’ decisions following encounters with people experiencing mental illness were explored. Officers in Australia were presented with one of three videos depicting a police encounter with an individual who was either mentally ill, not mentally ill, or with an ambiguous mental state. Participants were asked how they would “likely ” and “ideally ” resolve the encounter. Discriminant function analysis revealed that officers ’ responses were related to (a) the severity of symptoms presented and (b) the officers ’ attitudes toward people experiencing mental illness, as measured by an attitudes questionnaire. There was a discrepancy between participants ’ likely and ideal outcomes to the scenarios, which supported the well-known fact that police officers face considerable obstacles when attempting to resolv