Peirspictiochtai Ar An Saol
Among the most difficult situations faced by law enforcement officers are ones that involve individuals with mental health difficulties.
These could be individuals with specific mental health diseases, people with developmental disabilities, and persons facing difficulties that they are unable to deal with at specific moments in time.
These could be individuals contemplating suicide or individuals viewing others as threats that need to be eliminated.
Efforts to resolve these types of circumstances might be complicated when individuals do not understand the gravity of the situations they are facing. Individuals threatening themselves or others might not have the mental capacity – at that moment in time – to understand how their actions or inactions might impact themselves or others.
Law enforcement officers trained in methods to de-escalate situations might find that those techniques might not work well with individuals with mental health difficulties.
Law enforcement entities that follow the principles of Zero-Based Law Enforcement could take actions that help to mitigate circumstances that involve individuals with mental health challenges.
One method would be to have mental health professionals as integral components of the law enforcement entity itself.
Not just on call.
Not just when needed.
But as part of the law enforcement entity.
It should be noted that law enforcement itself involves a variety of components and many types of jobs within the law enforcement workforce.
Not everyone in law enforcement carries a badge and a gun.
Not everyone in law enforcement drives in a marked vehicle.
Two examples: Crossing guards and parking enforcement officers.
In some communities, the individuals who serve as crossing guards to help children across roadways to go to and from school are members of their community's law enforcement entity. Crossing guards are typically unarmed and don't drive marked vehicles.
Likewise, parking enforcement in some communities is done by individuals who are members of their community's law enforcement entity. Parking enforcement officers are also typically unarmed and walk their "beats" rather than driving marked vehicles.
In both cases, these types of workers serve specific functions that are important to their communities.
In some communities, mental health professionals are on call to help in situations where their knowledge and skills could be of help.
The ability, though, to utilize those mental health professionals on a routine basis is limited in many communities.
In some cases, the mental health professionals are not directly employed as part of the law enforcement entity. Instead, they might be employed by third-party providers independent of any law enforcement entity.
Availability of the mental health professionals might be limited to "regular" office hours during weekdays.
Up to two-thirds of the week – nighttime hours, weekends, and holidays – might not have access to mental health professionals.
In communities where mental health professionals have been integrated to some extent within the law enforcement entity, access might be limited because the number of mental health professionals does not match the need for this type of service within the specific community.
Through Zero-Based Law Enforcement, mental health services would become part of law enforcement services. Mental health professionals would accompany law enforcement officers to situations that might involve the need for mental health services.
Mental health professionals would not be dispatched on every call for law enforcement, but would be dispatched as needed.
If it is determined that mental health services are not needed for a specific situation, the mental health professionals could leave that scene and be available for dispatch to other situations where mental health services might be needed.
Mental health professionals would be available at all hours of the day and night.
There would be no weekend or holiday when mental health services would not be available.
Third-party mental health services could be utilized as backup services in extreme circumstances, but the concept of Zero-Based Law Enforcement would be to have a workforce of mental health professionals that would be of sufficient size to meet routine needs within the specific community.
Law enforcement officers could utilize the advice and expertise of mental health professionals as they strive to resolve situations.
This could result in less of a need for law enforcement officers to arrest people facing mental health challenges.
This could result in less of a need for law enforcement officers to put themselves and others in harm's way when other options – through mental health services – could be utilized to resolve such situations.
This could result in lower rates of injuries and deaths of law enforcement officers, individuals facing mental health difficulties, and others involved in these types of situations.
The next news column in this series will focus on how law enforcement officers could focus on routine enforcement of pedestrian-related infrastructure and related environmental factors through Zero-Based Law Enforcement.
Peirspictiochtai Ar A Saol – Gaelic – Irish – for "Perspectives On Life" is a column focused on aspects of accountability and responsibility as well as ways people look at life.
Contact Richard McDonough at
© 2026 Richard McDonough
