Training police as specialists in family crisis intervention: A community psychology action program.

Training police in family crisis intervention is intended to demonstrate innovative crime prevention and mental health techniques, utilizing selected police officers. There is evidence that police are currently engaged in a variety of quasi-mental health roles with little or no relevant training and that this lack of training, often personally dangerous, represents an opportunity lost to society for preventing crime and for relieving manpower shortages in mental health.Successful completion of the project, which is organized in three stages (Preparatory, Operational, and Evaluative) over a two-year period, may permit the development of a curriculum for use by other police family crisis units.