Abstract
North American police maintain a database to track events and information related to their involvement with the public that contain a series of electronic caution/dependency flags attached to an individual's name for internal communication. To identify persons with mental illness in a police administrative database, an algorithm was developed that was composed of (a) caution/dependency flags, (b) addresses, and (c) key search words indicative of mental illness. Based on the level of confidence of the algorithm, persons with mental illness (PMI) were then assigned to one of three categories: Definite, Probable and Possible PMI. Results for 2000 include the sociodemographic characteristics of PMI and non-PMI in the database. The mean number of contacts, types of interactions, re-involvement with a year, charges and dispositions are described. The algorithm provides a cheap, quick method to identify PMI for North American police. It enables police to monitor the effectiveness of pre-arrest diversion programs and allows researchers to analyze questions of criminalization and mental illness.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | International Journal of Law and Psychiatry |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- Mental illness
- Police
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Applied Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Law
- Psychiatry and Mental health
Cite this
Design of an algorithm to identify persons with mental illness in a police administrative database. / Hartford, Kathleen; Heslop, Lisa; Stitt, Larry; Hoch, Jeffrey S.
In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Vol. 28, No. 1, 01.2005, p. 1-11.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Design of an algorithm to identify persons with mental illness in a police administrative database
AU - Hartford, Kathleen
AU - Heslop, Lisa
AU - Stitt, Larry
AU - Hoch, Jeffrey S
PY - 2005/1
Y1 - 2005/1
N2 - North American police maintain a database to track events and information related to their involvement with the public that contain a series of electronic caution/dependency flags attached to an individual's name for internal communication. To identify persons with mental illness in a police administrative database, an algorithm was developed that was composed of (a) caution/dependency flags, (b) addresses, and (c) key search words indicative of mental illness. Based on the level of confidence of the algorithm, persons with mental illness (PMI) were then assigned to one of three categories: Definite, Probable and Possible PMI. Results for 2000 include the sociodemographic characteristics of PMI and non-PMI in the database. The mean number of contacts, types of interactions, re-involvement with a year, charges and dispositions are described. The algorithm provides a cheap, quick method to identify PMI for North American police. It enables police to monitor the effectiveness of pre-arrest diversion programs and allows researchers to analyze questions of criminalization and mental illness.
AB - North American police maintain a database to track events and information related to their involvement with the public that contain a series of electronic caution/dependency flags attached to an individual's name for internal communication. To identify persons with mental illness in a police administrative database, an algorithm was developed that was composed of (a) caution/dependency flags, (b) addresses, and (c) key search words indicative of mental illness. Based on the level of confidence of the algorithm, persons with mental illness (PMI) were then assigned to one of three categories: Definite, Probable and Possible PMI. Results for 2000 include the sociodemographic characteristics of PMI and non-PMI in the database. The mean number of contacts, types of interactions, re-involvement with a year, charges and dispositions are described. The algorithm provides a cheap, quick method to identify PMI for North American police. It enables police to monitor the effectiveness of pre-arrest diversion programs and allows researchers to analyze questions of criminalization and mental illness.
KW - Mental illness
KW - Police
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=13844298866&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=13844298866&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.12.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 15710445
AN - SCOPUS:13844298866
VL - 28
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
JF - International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
SN - 0160-2527
IS - 1
ER -