Mental Health & Law Enforcement
Community approaches and Idaho resources addressing the impact of mental health on law enforcement.
Mental Health & Law Enforcement
Mental health has a major impact on all of law enforcement. Idaho’s sheriffs engage every day with the community in dealing with mental health concerns among the public and those who engage in criminal activity or risk the safety of others or to themselves.
As an association of sheriffs, ISA embraces a sensible and compassionate policy toward the mentally ill that includes training and awareness among deputies and staff, compassionate policing practices, best-practice approaches in enforcing the law with people who have mental illness, and best-practice approaches to apprehension, incarceration, or institutional custody of mentally ill offenders.
A major challenge throughout the state is the persistent and repetitive issues with people who need treatment. The National Sheriffs’ Association, as policy through June 2024, supports the National Advocacy Treatment Center and its work in assisting the mentally ill in our nation and local communities.
Advanced Outpatient Treatment
Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) is the practice of providing community-based mental health treatment under civil court commitment as a means of motivating an adult with mental illness who struggles with voluntary treatment adherence to engage fully with their treatment plan and focusing treatment providers on keeping the person engaged in effective treatment.
An AOT Program is an organized, systematic effort within a mental health system to ensure that AOT will be made available to those who need it to live safely in the community.
Estimated Prevalence of Severe Mental Illness in Idaho
Source noted on the live ISA article: NIMH and U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2020.
Mandatory Treatment Laws in Idaho
Idaho has civil commitment laws that establish criteria for determining when involuntary treatment is appropriate for individuals with severe mental illness who cannot seek care voluntarily. Idaho’s laws allow the use of court-ordered treatment in the community, known as assisted outpatient treatment.
Criminal Diversion in Idaho
Criminal justice officials are responding to the criminalization of individuals with innovative programs designed to divert individuals with severe mental illness away from the criminal justice system. Two promising programs are mental health courts and crisis intervention training.
| Population served by mental health court | Population served by CIT | Combined average |
|---|---|---|
| 76% | 58% | 67% |
Source noted on the live ISA article: Prevalence of Mental Health Diversion Practices: A Survey of the States, Treatment Advocacy Center, 2013.
Policy Recommendations
- Stop eliminating public psychiatric beds.
- Restore a sufficient number of beds to create access to inpatient care for qualifying individuals in crisis.
- Make active use of the state’s civil commitment laws to provide more timely treatment to individuals in need of treatment for symptoms of psychiatric crisis and reduce the consequences of non-treatment on them, their families and their communities.
Additional Idaho Resources
- Get help for a loved one.
- Report card on quality and use of Idaho laws.
- Treatment of persons with mental illness in Idaho prisons and jails.
- Mental health courts and CIT policing by county.