Summary
"The research is an attempt to describe police officers involvement with psychiatric referrals and the nature of and reasons behind the decisions they make, and to understand the nature of professional relationships that exist between police officers and psychiatrists in applying this part of the Mental Health Act. The concepts used, and theoretical underpinnings of the research are in the main derived from the sociology of 'mental illness'. Use, has been made of the theory of professional dominance to analyse police action and interaction with psychiatrists."--Abstract.