How do police officers handle dealing with someone who has a mental disorder?

On Quora Answered by: Flora Wichers, Psychology Tutor(NYC & Skype/Facetime) "Unfortunately, not well, few police officers are given mental illness training. Since many don't hold degrees past a GED, high school diploma or a few college credits, Psychology classes are not in their educational curriculum. There are many instances of police brutality against mentally ill, one reason being that there is a misconception of widespread violence across the mentally ill population. In fact, that population is 25% of the United States- and this group is no likely to be violent than the general population. There are some exceptions-PTSD & substance abuse among them- but police aren't trained in recognizing & differentiating between mental illnesses. For example, take someone with autism who has trouble picking upon social cues and making eye contact. A brazen police officer may mistake this for disrespect & arrest them; there are many instances of arrests having no logical basis. Somebody suffering from manic or psychotic episode may come across as someone on drugs & be searched or harassed, exacerbating their current mental state."