From crisis to care: Enhancing police responses to critical incidents involving persons with mental illness

Tyson Alker; Kelly Hine; Tim Prenzler

doi:10.1177/26338076251369130

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From crisis to care: Enhancing police responses to critical incidents involving persons with mental illness

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

From crisis to care: Enhancing police responses to critical incidents involving persons with mental illness

Tyson Alker, Kelly Hine and Tim Prenzler

Journal of Criminology, Vol.Advanced access

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/26338076251369130

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

Police administration, procedures and practice

Law enforcement

crisis

mental illness

police

law enforcement

routine activity theory

deaths in police custody

UniSC Diversity Area - Disability and Inclusion

This study explores the nature of critical police incidents involving People with Mental Illness (PMI) that result in fatalities. The current study draws from Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to identify key characteristics of the PMI, officer, and place. The study examined all fatal police interactions involving PMIs in Queensland, Australia, over a 13-year period. A total of 32 cases were analysed to examine differences between two main groups: self-directed crises and externally directed crises. The results revealed both commonalities and key differences between the two groups. These findings are discussed within the context of controllers and super controllers, identifying key interventions of Crisis Supporters for PMIs, Response Aides for officers, and Environmental Facilitators for the location, as well as super controllers in terms of Support Frameworks. These findings provide insights for developing practical prevention strategies that can be implemented by police agencies, mental health services, and policymakers to reduce fatal outcomes in police–PMI interactions.

Details

Title: From crisis to care: Enhancing police responses to critical incidents involving persons with mental illness
Authors: Tyson Alker - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
Kelly Hine (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Society
Tim Prenzler - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Journal of Criminology, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
DOI: 10.1177/26338076251369130
ISSN: 2633-8084
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991155439802621
Output Type: Journal article

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