ABSTRACT
In the role of serving and protecting the public, and enforcing the law, police are given broad legal powers. Perhaps the most contentious of these are their right to use physical force to effect compliance from the public and the right to use lethal force in order to protect their own or another’s life. There is no doubt that a police officer’s decision to fire his or her weapon and potentially take someone’s life is the most important he or she is faced with. A topic of some contention has been police use of fatal and nonfatal force on people who have a mental disorder. This chapter begins with a broad overview of the contacts between the police and people experiencing mental disorders. Following is the review of the findings regarding police use of nonfatal and fatal force on people who experience mental disorders, paying specific attention to the emerging research from Victoria, Australia. Finally, the chapter will conclude with describing some of the initiatives currently being undertaken to assist the police in working at this interface.
