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Table 3 Police response to mental health crises and relationship with care contacts *

From: Role of the police in linking individuals experiencing mental health crises with mental health services

Police response to crisis

All persons (N=321)

Persons without care contact in year before crisis (N=162)

Frequency of response

Increase in number of contacts per month#

Frequency of response

Persons with contact in month after crisis

Persons with contact in subsequent year

N

%

Mean

SD

N

%

N

%

N

%

Dealt with by police

156

49

1.3¶

5.9

94

58

5

5§

19

20¶

Mental healthcare contacted

88

27

7.4¶

12.6

29

18

12

41§

17

59¶

Evaluation at police station

44

14

7.0¶

10.8

20

12

12

60§$

12

60¶

Other care contacted

33

10

4.0

8.9

19

12

5

26§$

7

37

  1. *Only first crisis in study period for each individual.
  2. #Increase in care contacts from month before to month after crisis.
  3. ¶Row 1 different from rows 2 and 3 (p<.01).
  4. §Row 1 different from all other rows (p<.01).
  5. $Row 3 different from row 4 (p=.03).