Associations between Police Encounters and Mental Health Status in Chicago

Aggressive policing tactics, such as stop and frisk and excessive use of force, are commonplace in many urban environments, particularly disadvantaged communities of color. Quantifying the extent of these potentially harmful policing strategies and the circumstances in which they are deployed is exceedingly difficult. Furthermore, little is known about the potential health impact of aggressive policing. Frequent police stops, as well as the potential for physical and psychological abuse during a given stop, may have detrimental effects on an individual’s mental health status. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine the nature and potential mental health consequences of police encounters using both cross-sectional and longitudinal population-based surveys in Chicago. Respondents who perceived their most recent police stop as illegitimate had significantly increased odds of reporting threat or use of police force during that stop. We also found that a high number of lifetime police stops was significantly associated with current post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among men in the cross-sectional study, even after controlling for a number of potential confounders including a prior diagnosis of PTSD. Perceived threat or use of police force during the most recent police stop was not significantly associated with current symptoms of depression or PTSD after adjustment. In the longitudinal study, intense police exposure, as measured by being in trouble with the police two or more times during any six-month period between baseline and follow-up, was significantly associated with an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms over this time period among young men. We recommend caution when interpreting this finding due to considerable methodological concerns with the longitudinal study which were beyond our control. There was no association between the amount of police exposure, as measured by the number of times in trouble with the police, or recency of police exposure and anxiety or depressive symptoms in fully adjusted models. If confirmed in larger prospective studies, these associations could have considerable public health implications given the frequent interactions between police and residents in disadvantaged urban communities.