Evidence suggests police officers are increasingly called upon to respond to incidents related to mental health issues, emotional problems, and substance abuse. Many have raised concerns regarding their involvement in such incidents. Yet, little is known about these encounters in rural and remote communities despite evidence suggesting that the context of non-urban areas should matter. Accordingly, this article proposes to examine variations in self-reported encounters with the police for behavioral health-related reasons across urban, rural, and remote communities. Using data from the 2014 General Social Survey, a representative sample of the Canadian population, we assess these self-reported encounters from two different angles: encounters for one's own behavioral health crisis and encounters for a family member's behavioral health needs. While findings on the former are inconclusive, those examining police contacts for a family member suggest that living in rural or remote communities is significantly associated with a greater probability of experiencing such situations relative to living in urban areas. Furthermore, this probability increases with the relative geographical isolation of communities. These results are discussed in light of the rising concerns regarding our reliance on the police for such incidents and the need to account for the situation of rural and remote communities.

中文翻译：

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农村和偏远社区因行为健康相关原因遭遇警察：一项加拿大研究☆

有证据表明，警察越来越多地被要求应对与精神健康问题、情绪问题和药物滥用有关的事件。许多人对他们卷入此类事件表示担忧。然而，尽管有证据表明非城市地区的环境应该很重要，但人们对农村和偏远社区的这些遭遇知之甚少。因此，本文建议检查城市、农村和偏远社区中自我报告的因行为健康相关原因与警察相遇的差异。我们使用来自 2014 年综合社会调查（加拿大人口的代表性样本）的数据，从两个不同的角度评估这些自我报告的遭遇：遭遇个人行为健康危机和遭遇家庭成员的行为健康需求。虽然对前者的调查结果尚无定论，但调查家庭成员与警方联系的调查结果表明，与居住在城市地区相比，居住在农村或偏远社区与经历此类情况的可能性显着相关。此外，这种可能性随着社区的相对地理隔离而增加。鉴于人们越来越担心我们在此类事件中依赖警察以及需要考虑农村和偏远社区的情况，因此讨论了这些结果。这种可能性随着社区的相对地理隔离而增加。鉴于人们越来越担心我们在此类事件中依赖警察以及需要考虑农村和偏远社区的情况，因此讨论了这些结果。这种可能性随着社区的相对地理隔离而增加。鉴于人们越来越担心我们在此类事件中依赖警察以及需要考虑农村和偏远社区的情况，因此讨论了这些结果。