Scenario Challenges
| Depressed female Immediate arrest and ambulance called No time taken to talk to the individual Solution: If an arrest is made immediately, informing the officers that the ambulance will not arrive for 10 minutes will instigate communication with the subject. |
| Alcohol intoxication with likely medical problems Officers did not believe that they needed to be aware of alcohol withdrawal and claimed not to be doctors Solution: Inform officers that it is crucial that they know about this medical problem, as it could save lives if caught early enough. |
| Possible psychosis Deciding whether to take the individual to the hospital Actor feedback about how an individual with schizophrenia feels versus how an actor feels was questioned Solution: Have a constant facilitator in this scenario. |
| Depressed and actively suicidal individual Immediate arrest, even though individual was in an enclosed corner with a barricade in front Solution: suggest that this individual cannot escape and therefore there is no need to arrest immediately and cause further stress in the situation. |
| Mania with possible drug use and physical symptoms Immediate arrest, more experienced officers handcuffed sooner because of the threat that the subject was walking in the street Solution: Change the scene to a different location following the complaint of walking on the street. |
| Domestic dispute precipitated by problem gambling Complaint that the scenario was unrealistic, since the couple would re-escalate following all the attempts to de-escalate Immediate arrest Lack of solution Solution: Active listening and patience can divulge more information than if the situation is aggravated by an arrest. |