title: Police responses for mental health assistance.
abstract: The police have become one of the primary referral agencies for psychiatric assistance in the community. They utilize certain factors that determine the decisions affecting case disposition for every mental health assistance call they receive. This study of a police department's mental health responses for the year 1985 attempts to analyze the police officers' placement decisions for the mentally ill and the criteria for which such dispositions are made.
mesh_terms: D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000628:therapy; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012926:Social Control, Formal