FOCUS: PEOPLE IN PSYCHOSOCIAL CRISIS
People in psychosocial crises. Police intervention instead of support
by Norbert Pütter and Sonja John
The way police deal with people who are in psychosocial crises, who have mental health problems or who have been labelled as such, is currently receiving a lot of attention. Obvious deficits in the use of force are to be eliminated through improved training and further education, without institutional reforms. In the fight against crime, mentally vulnerable individuals are being declared a new risk group against whom preventive intervention is to be taken. With their criminalistic scrutiny, the stigmatization of those affected and their distance from the support system are increasing.
Police and people in crisis. The legal perspective
by Michael Bäuerle
According to federal and state police laws, the primary task of the police is to avert threats to public safety or order, i.e. impending offenses and expected damage to individual and collective rights. It is not uncommon that people in exceptional psychological situations show behaviour that leads to such violations or damage and that either those affected alert the police or that relevant authorities request police assistance. In legal terms, however, the police only play a subordinate role in possible state measures.
Victims in/with mental health problems. Fatal shots fired at people in special situations
by Norbert Pütter
The number of people killed by the police who were in an exceptional psychological situation has increased significantly in recent years. The little information available on these cases cannot explain the increase. However, it does point to characteristics that raise questions about police professionalism.
„Unusual Doesn’t Mean Dangerous“
Interview with Florian Stoeck
In police operations that end fatally, people in mental health crises are disproportionately affected. This raises the question of whether police officers are adequately prepared for encounters with this group of people in their basic and advanced training. In this interview, Florian Stoeck, who teaches psychology at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration in the federal state of Bremen, explains what is already going well and where there is potential for improvement from his perspective.
Human rights prevail. How the police deal with „difficult people“
by René Talbot
The Patient Decree Act of 2009, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified in the same year and the right to suicide adopted in 2020 place individual self-determination at the centre. Police action must adapt to this paradigm shift.
Result-oriented accountability. Police ombudsman and submissions from the mentally divergent
by Sonja John
Dealing with people in crisis, the mentally ill and those with behavioural problems is generally challenging. Even the police and counselling centres that want to help reach their limits. How do police counselling centres handle submissions from presumably confused individuals? And what experiences do those affected have in these situations?
Psychiatry and correctional facilities. Authorities with side effects
by Ulrich Lewe
In Germany, general psychiatry and the psychiatric correctional facility (PCF) are linked to the state’s monopoly on violence via different legal provisions. The article describes problematic developments resulting from this connection, identifies the particular risks to which people with psychosocial disabilities are exposed in general and especially in the PCF and draws attention to the dangers of the new discourse figure of the allegedly „dangerous lunatic“.
Dangerous hands? US police and black autistic youths
by Elizabeth Drame, Tara Adams and Veronica Nolden
The intersection of ethnicity, disability and criminal justice is an extremely complex social problem, particularly for Black autistic youth and adults. We present research findings from the USA.
NON-THEMATIC CONTRIBUTIONS
Off(side) the field. The Federal Constitutional Court serves the „common sense“
by Volker Eick
In January 2025, the German Federal Constitutional Court issued a “landmark” ruling: A profit-oriented organizer who gives a federal state the impression that there is an increased risk due to a planned event must bear the additional police costs incurred.