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<p>Historical efforts to deinstitutionalize those experiencing mental illness in the USA have inadvertently positioned police officers as the typical first responders to emergency calls involving mental health crises and empower them to initiate involuntary psychiatric detentions. Although potentially lifesaving, such detentions are controversial and costly, and they may be medically inappropriate for some of those detained. Here we present evidence from two quasi-experimental designs on the causal effects of a ‘co-responder’ programme that pairs mental health professionals with police officers as first responders on qualified emergency calls. The results indicate that a co-responder programme reduced the frequency of involuntary psychiatric detentions by 16.5% (that is, 370 fewer detentions over 2 years; <i>b</i> = −0.180, 95% confidence interval −0.325 to −0.034) but had no detectable effect on programme-related calls for service, criminal offences or arrests. Complementary results based on incident-level data suggest this reduction reflects both a co-responder’s influence on the disposition of an individual incident and a reduction in future mental health emergencies.</p>

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Emergency mental health co-responders reduce involuntary psychiatric detentions in the USA

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月17日

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  • Thomas S. Dee,
  • Jaymes Pyne

摘要

Historical efforts to deinstitutionalize those experiencing mental illness in the USA have inadvertently positioned police officers as the typical first responders to emergency calls involving mental health crises and empower them to initiate involuntary psychiatric detentions. Although potentially lifesaving, such detentions are controversial and costly, and they may be medically inappropriate for some of those detained. Here we present evidence from two quasi-experimental designs on the causal effects of a ‘co-responder’ programme that pairs mental health professionals with police officers as first responders on qualified emergency calls. The results indicate that a co-responder programme reduced the frequency of involuntary psychiatric detentions by 16.5% (that is, 370 fewer detentions over 2 years; b = −0.180, 95% confidence interval −0.325 to −0.034) but had no detectable effect on programme-related calls for service, criminal offences or arrests. Complementary results based on incident-level data suggest this reduction reflects both a co-responder’s influence on the disposition of an individual incident and a reduction in future mental health emergencies.