ENGAGING persons with mental illness (PMI) forms part of the normal duties of the criminal justice system in all modern societies. To this end, there are acts, regulations and guidelines to aid the conduct of members of the security forces, which today includes the private security industry, when dealing with the specialized needs of this particular group, of vulnerable people. Unless persons, who engage the mentally ill, are specifically trained in methods of observation, communication and restraint, their involvement with PMIs presents the potential for great risks to all parties.
According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, mental illness or mental disorder is defined as any of various psychiatric conditions, usually characterized by impairment of an individual’s normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioural functioning, and caused by physiological or psychosocial factors. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association, is used in the United States of America and in varying degrees around the world, to provide a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.
From a legal stand point, it has long been established that the official mandate of law enforcement and correctional officers include dealing with mentally ill persons, since the police have a legal obligation to respond to calls for service involving PMI (Bittner, 1967: 278).
This responsibility is grounded in two legal principles: first, the protection of the safety and welfare of the public (community) and second, parents patria, (the state assuming the role of guardian) for the protection of disabled citizens, in this case the mentally challenged members of the community who are unable to care for themselves. These legal principles are, in fact, reflected in the fundamental criteria generally used to assess whether emergency psychiatric / apprehension commitment is warranted (Templin, 1984a).
So why does the police- the most conspicuous agents of the state and protector of the citizenry constantly brutalize persons with mental illness? That the police traditionally have received little or no training pertinent to the identification and handling of mental illness is the single most commonly cited shortcoming in accounting for the problematic nature of police encounters with PMIs (Lamb et al., 2002).
However, it is not only the police who engage the mentally ill from a position of ignorance and paranoia; this phenomenon exists throughout the length and breadth of Guyana. Many PMIs report that whenever they visit a school for example, the teachers and on occasions, the head teacher constitute  greater psychological threats than the students.
There have been increased calls internationally, for the introduction of a comprehensive training module to teach law enforcement and security officers how to engage persons with mental illness; it is time for the Guyana Police Force to follow suit.