When Law Enforcement and Health Care Meet
Police officers generally aren't trained to deal with mental health crises — and yet they constantly find themselves being called on to intervene in these challenging situations, which can quickly escalate and even end in tragedy.
It's just one of the many places where law enforcement and health care intersect, and sometimes clash. The two often work hand-in-hand to collect evidence or care for victims — and that can become a problem when they find their roles at odds.
On this episode, we explore the changing relationship between law enforcement and the health care system to find out how the two can work together better. We'll hear stories about the HEART program in Durham, North Carolina — a new approach to mental health crises that dispatches trained mental health workers to 911 calls; a nurse who's been pushing to create protocols for dealing with patients injured by police; and why one researcher says that prescription drug monitoring programs are blurring the lines between health care and law enforcement — in a way patients might not know about.
Also heard on this week's episode:
