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mental
health

Police are often the default responders to people experiencing mental health emergencies, which can unnecessarily escalate a situation and result in violence. People with mental health conditions are no more likely than anyone else to act violently, but are far more likely to be injured or killed by police. And because of systemic inequities in health care access as well as rates of police contact, Black people are particularly at risk.

As communities expand the use of alternative mental health responses, lawmakers and police can implement policies to prevent the disproportionate harms that police contact causes to people experiencing mental health emergencies.

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Care Not Punishment:
Redesigning Mental Health Emergency Response

Our webinar on mental health breaks down the “how-to” of creating mental health emergency response alternatives and the data behind such programs’ current success.
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data by-the-numbers

People with serious mental illness are 12 times more likely to experience use of force by police than other people.

7% - 10%

Of All Police Encounters Involve a Person Who Has Mental Illness

0 %

Of People in State and Federal Prisons have a Mental Illness

0 %

Of People in Local Jails have a Mental Illness

0 %

Of People Killed by the Police in the U.S since 2015 had a known Mental Illness

Featured Resources

Substantial and effective change in our collective approach to public safety can only be driven by community voice.

Resource LIBRARY

“Research shows that officers are often not equipped with the knowledge or resources to determine the services someone needs, which prevents people experiencing mental health emergencies from receiving appropriate care that may prevent future crises.”

“People with mental illness are not inherently more dangerous than anyone else and behavior that stems from a mental health crisis or condition should not be treated as a crime.”

“Department policies should aim to counteract myths about the relationship between mental illness and violence and affirm that officers should strive to direct people experiencing a mental health emergency to community-based health care.”

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