ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the student of police psychology, law and criminal justice/criminology an outline of service, assistance and intervention as to how to deal with the mentally ill person on the street. Mentally ill citizens suffer from a plentitude of disorders. Most folks who have been diagnosed with mental illness are not violent. Emotional communication is at the core of most communication. It is not only what is said and the content of that sequence of meaning in words but the emotional message behind words. The enigma of service and safety is potentially bridged when such valued officers are willing and capable of going through the rigor of becoming a mental health professional. The epidemic levels of mentally ill persons on the streets are juxtaposed against programs that present a picture of all is better then ever. Officers have real extreme cases that fall far from the ideal programs and interventions prescribed.
