Over time, there has been a lot of stigma when discussing mental health and discussing its presence. Millions of Canadians live with mental illness every day. Approximately one in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime (Smetanin, Stiff, Briante, Adair, Ahmad, & Khan, 2011). In Canada, the stigma surrounding mental illness is slowly coming to an end. While this is true within society as a whole, it is not true within policing. There is still a large gap between police officers and the mental illness community. In the advanced democratic country of Canada, training and awareness of mental illness must continue to take place to bridge the gap between police officers and people with mental illness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Every year, police officers respond to millions of calls for help. They range from very minor problems, like a broken window, all the way up to a life-threatening situation. Many calls received by the police concern mentally ill people. Although these calls are stigmatized as dangerous due to their unpredictable nature for people with mental illness, police officers should respond to them without fear or anxiety. With the increase in the number of people with mental illness comes an increase in the number of police officers interacting with people with mental illness. Negative outcomes of interactions between police officers and people with mental illness almost always lead to further referrals when interacting with a person with mental illness. These recommendations always come down to training and programs for police officers. The most well-known program, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), has been shown to have an effect on improving the outcomes of interactions between police officers and people with mental illness (Cotton & Coleman, 2010). CIT partners police officers and mental health providers when serving people with mental illnesses in the community. This ensures that certain precautions are taken when responding to calls involving people with mental illness, as they have different needs than their non-mentally ill counterparts. Although CIT is beneficial for people suffering from mental illnesses, police officers have also shown support for it. Mental health-related calls can be very embarrassing for police officers. Surveys have shown that many police officers feel undertrained for these calls because they are quite unpredictable, which can lead them to further escalate the situation (Wells and Schaefer, 2006; Ruiz and Miller 2004). CIT is beneficial to police officers because it helps them interact with patients with mental illnesses in a more safe and secure manner. Although first responders receive mental health training, police officers are among the least trained when it comes to mental health. When there is an emergency situation, sometimes a police officer arrives more quickly than a paramedic. If police officers received the same extensive mental health training as paramedics, they would be better equipped and trained to help the mentally ill. It would also ease some of the burden on paramedics when responding to calls from people with mental illness. Many police services in Canada have implemented beneficial training plans forpolice officers responding to calls from people with mental illness. The Ontario Police College uses a training guide for new police officers throughout their police training. This helpful guide is also used by hospitals, psychiatric and mental health workers, mental health consumer organizations, and correctional workers (Coleman & Cotton, 2010). Another great initiative in Canada is the Lanark County LEAD Team. The mental health and policing model is made up of groups of officers from Ontario Provincial Police detachments in Ontario cities like Smith Falls, Perth and Renfrew County, Lanark County and Leeds and Grenville. These officers undergo training in small groups where they learn about mental illness, including symptoms, risk assessment, behaviors, recognizing people with mental illness as well as de-escalation strategies (Cotton and Coleman , 2010). This is done so that officers recognize and understand that mental illness is a disorder and not an intentional crime. Officers then take this knowledge back to their city's OPP detachment and pass it on to their fellow officers and supervisors (Cotton & Coleman, 2010). These initiatives in Ontario show how police forces are motivated to help the mentally ill and not punish them for their disorders. At a time when many people with mental illness are incarcerated for their actions rather than treated, programs that allow police officers to interact with the mentally ill are needed more than ever. In the United States, an estimated 10-15% of inmates and 25% of inmates suffer from serious mental illnesses (Fuller, Sinclair, Geller, Quanbeck, & Snook, 2016). People with serious mental illnesses do not belong in jail or prison, but rather within a psychiatric institution or center, which is more beneficial for their health. The institutionalization of incarceration in the United States is a much bigger problem than in Canada, but Canada faces the same problems. The dangers of incarcerating and punishing the mentally ill can be highlighted by examining the suicide death of 19-year-old Ashley. Black-smith. Smith was a young girl from Ontario who was incarcerated in youth detention centers for minor offenses such as trespassing, causing a disturbance and throwing wild apples at the postman. Smith had behavioral problems that led to his suspension from school and further incarceration at a federal facility, the Nova Institution for Women. Smith has been diagnosed with ADHD, learning disabilities, borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. While at Grand Valley Institution for Women, Smith attempted suicide several times and continued to engage in self-harming behavior, she was placed on suicide watch. She had also requested to be transferred to a psychiatric center and was placed on a waiting list. Smith attempted suicide again by hanging and she died. While they witnessed her death through CCTV, the guards did not intervene for almost an hour and it took some time before they entered to check on her (“Timeline: The life & death”, 2010). This case study highlights not only the dangers of incarcerating the mentally ill, but also the earliest interactions between the mentally ill and police officers. The main goal should not be punishment but rather rehabilitation. At the time of interaction between the person.