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Resumo

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.

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