Contradictions between community-oriented police training and paramilitary police training : Implications for police recruit mental health response training

The increasingly professionalised role of the police requires police organisations to transition away from paramilitary policing models and embrace community-oriented policing practices. One important aspect of the community-oriented policing model is the development of effective communication skills for when police interact with vulnerable persons such as persons with mental illness (PWMI) in crisis. Given the development of community-oriented police skills begins at the academy, the form and content of academy mental health response training (MHRT) as well as the training methods facilitators use to impart the MHRT, is important. Yet police officers are often criticised for not receiving adequate MHRT, especially when police respond to PWMI in crisis using tactics that are considered procedurally unfair and unjust. Applying procedural justice as a lens, this research explores the MHRT of one Australian state police academy to determine the effectiveness of the MHRT in preparing recruits for utilising procedurally just tactics for future interactions with PWMI in crisis. By conducting nonparticipant observation with police recruits, this research determines that recruits receive cursory MHRT at the academy that is lacking in content, duration, and pedagogical innovation. It is argued that the lack of MHRT is further compounded by the abundance of paramilitary training practices and culture at the academy, which further undermines the appropriate development of community-oriented and procedurally just police officers.