Paul Tsai China Center Leads Workshops on Police Interventions in Mental Health Crises

The Paul Tsai China Center hosted crisis intervention experts Dr. Randolph Dupont and Major Sam Cochran in their inaugural trip to China to work with Chinese practitioners on police interactions with the mentally ill. The Center worked with the two U.S. experts to conduct five full days of activities culminating in a training session for 320 Beijing police recruits and an international forum on police protection of the rights of the mentally ill.

Dr. Dupont, a psychologist, and Major Cochran are pioneers in their respective fields, best known for the creation of the “Memphis Model,” an innovative police-based first responder program that seeks to improve how individuals with mental illness in crisis are approached by police officers and routed to appropriate mental health care facilities rather than jail. Dr. Dupont and Major Cochran developed the model following tragic, violent resolutions of encounters between mentally ill persons and police officers in Memphis in 1987. Their model emphasizes ongoing collaboration between mental health professionals, advocates, and police. These Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) take the lead in responding to mental health crisis situations, using verbal de-escalation techniques to decrease the risks of violence and injury to patients, bystanders, and police officers.

During their time in China, the U.S. experts spoke to several different audiences at the People’s Public Security University of China, an elite law enforcement training facility under the Ministry of Public Security. This included both classroom presentations and participation in seminars. They met with groups of graduate students and also had a roundtable workshop with relevant faculty to discuss educational models and the CIT program.

On Thursday, November 10, the U.S. experts participated in an international forum on police protection of the rights of the mentally ill at the Public Security University. Law enforcement liaisons from Australia, Hong Kong, Finland, and several regions of mainland China joined the Center’s team to present on the processes and challenges involved in addressing mental health crises in policing. In addition to law enforcement representatives, several attendees came from academic, medical, and judicial backgrounds. One Chinese lawyer with 10 years of experience in representing people in China’s mental health system also provided a professional perspective.

The U.S. experts and the Center’s Senior Fellow Jeremy Daum and Research Fellow Jacob Clark spent an additional two days at the Beijing Police College, Beijing’s primary police academy. They introduced the CIT model to 320 recruits and spent a full day with the future police officers practicing verbal de-escalation techniques and other strategies to avoid the pitfalls of prejudiced policing. Participants learned a great deal from the experience, particularly the role-playing exercises and accompanying critiques provided by the U.S. experts.