Policy Text
Policy Delano Police Department
427 Delano PD Policy Manual
Crisis Intervention Incidents
427.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
This policy provides guidelines for interacting with those who may be experiencing a mental health
or emotional crisis. Interaction with such individuals has the potential for miscommunication and
violence. It often requires an officer to make difficult judgments about a person’s mental state and
intent in order to effectively and legally interact with the individual.
427.1.1 DEFINITIONS
Definitions related to this policy include:
Person in crisis - A person whose level of distress or mental health symptoms have exceeded
the person’s internal ability to manage his/her behavior or emotions. A crisis can be precipitated by
any number of things, including an increase in the symptoms of mental illness despite treatment
compliance; non-compliance with treatment, including a failure to take prescribed medications
appropriately; or any other circumstance or event that causes the person to engage in erratic,
disruptive or dangerous behavior that may be accompanied by impaired judgment.
427.2 POLICY
The Delano Police Department is committed to providing a consistently high level of service to all
members of the community and recognizes that persons in crisis may benefit from intervention.
The Department will collaborate, where feasible, with mental health professionals to develop an
overall intervention strategy to guide its members’ interactions with those experiencing a mental
health crisis. This is to ensure equitable and safe treatment of all involved.
427.3 SIGNS
Members should be alert to any of the following possible signs of mental health issues or crises:
(a) A known history of mental illness
(b) Threats of or attempted suicide
(c) Loss of memory
(d) Incoherence, disorientation or slow response
(e) Delusions, hallucinations, perceptions unrelated to reality or grandiose ideas
(f) Depression, pronounced feelings of hopelessness or uselessness, extreme sadness
or guilt
(g) Social withdrawal
(h) Manic or impulsive behavior, extreme agitation, lack of control
(i) Lack of fear
(j) Anxiety, aggression, rigidity, inflexibility or paranoia
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2019/12/06, All Rights Reserved. Crisis Intervention Incidents - 1
Published with permission by Delano Police Department