Summary
- Chicago P.D. opened its 11th season with an episode that looked at both the mental health of officers and how police treat civilians struggling with mental health issues.
- Law & Order: SVU's first three episodes have Olivia Benson struggling with the kidnapping of a young woman and taking the next step in her mental health treatment.
- Wolf Entertainment has covered mental health before but is expanding and elevating the conversation with these storylines.
When viewers think of police procedurals like Chicago P.D. and Law & Order, the first thing they think of isn't mental health. Though the shows have changed over time, many police procedurals focus on showcasing -- and elevating -- the police force, which struggles to handle mental health issues in the real world. This season, two of Dick Wolf's police procedurals appear to be trying to change the conversation.
Dick Wolf's procedural shows are accustomed to changing the conversation around tough topics. Law & Order: SVU, for example, has had a huge impact on the cultural conversation around sexual assault, sexual violence, and child abuse.
Now Law & Order: SVU and Chicago P.D. are taking up the mantle and using the cultural zeitgeist to boost the conversation about how the police force handles mental health both within its ranks and with civilians.
Chicago P.D. Pushes Upton to the Brink
Chicago PD Season 11, Episode 3, "Safe Harbor" is great for Burgess and Burzek fans, but the NBC show misses the mark in trying to be timely.
In the premiere of Chicago P.D., Season 11, Episode 1, "Unpacking," Detective Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) shadows a crisis task force for the day. Their first call deals with a man having a mental health crisis while trying to enter a locked building.
Though told to stay back, Upton lets her instincts take over and determines at the moment that the man is a danger, ultimately attempting to cuff him and then falling through a glass door when he resists. When the man is in custody, Upton discovers two people in an apartment in the building the man was trying to get into; one of them is dead, and the other is injured.
Upton's instincts told her that the man having a mental health crisis was responsible for the murder and attempted murder of these two people, but her instincts were wrong. The episode showed the nuance of attempting to understand whether someone dealing with a mental health crisis is actually dangerous and how complicated it can seem to understand what someone experiencing a mental health crisis might need.
What Upton learned is that in order for anyone, but particularly the police, to appropriately serve someone dealing with a mental health crisis, one needs to be patient and carefully evaluate before any action is taken. When Upton realizes she misinterpreted the situation, her mental health takes a hit, but Upton is not the only member of the Intelligence Team dealing with mental health issues in Season 11.
Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), who has recovered from the gunshot wound he received in Season 10, Episode 22, "A Better Place," begins Season 11 still waiting to return to the police force, and audiences see the toll this has taken on his mental health in both "Unpacking" and Season 11, Episode 2, "Retread," which has a central focus on Ruzek.
Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) is also affected by Ruzek's delayed return to the CPD, which is seen in "Retread" and in Season 11, Episode 3, "Safe Harbor," though by the end of "Safe Harbor," Burgess and Ruzek realize that it is their relationship that ultimately grounds them both.
While Chicago P.D. has referenced mental health in previous seasons, opening season 11 with each member of the team struggling with their own issues and having an episode centered around the CPD's response to civilians dealing with mental health crises is an important step in pushing the conversation about mental health and the criminal justice system forward.
